Journey Through Night
by Oreithyia
Summary: An epidemic forces the Kazekage to summon aid from Konoha. But from the horrors of disease to the ties of family and clan, from the fine line between executive and dictator to the complexities of international policy, nothing is ever so simple.
1. Breakdown

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 1

The dry winds coming off of the slowly cooling desert sands as the hot sun sank beneath the dune covered horizon failed to refresh the persons they brushed up against as they usually did. It was hard to find anything refreshing in the putrid odor of rotting flesh and festering pus that assaulted the senses of the people scurrying through the contaminated streets of Sunagakure no Sato. Most people covered their mouths and noses with scraps of cloth and squinted against the tears forming in their stinging eyes as they darted among the dead in search of shelter.

The harsh winds threw up dust storms and dust devils that picked up grit and then viciously hurled it over the fortified cities wall to fall in a fine rain of sand onto the slowly desiccating corpses the clean up crews had not yet removed from the places where the victims had collapsed. Bodies were strewn about stone paved boulevards and alleys alike; often the remains were curled up against rough mud brick walls in unnatural positions of pained contortion, their tattered clothing flapping lightly in the breeze. The ill had overflowed out of the overwhelmed hospitals some weeks ago and the mortuary facilities had petitioned to be allowed to burn bodies before identification was validated not long thereafter. The number of bodies being dumped at the crematorium was simply too many.

This evening, some survivors picked their way around the abandoned corpses, rags pressed against their wide-eyed faces, as if tip-toeing or a simple mask could protect them from the nameless plague that was inexorably invading the body of every citizen of Suna, then sucking the life out of them from the inside to leave them as a collection of scattered, withered husks. The entire city, usually lively and colorful with the beginnings nightlife at this point during dusk, was instead hushed and muted. Even the fresh spurts of crimson blood coughed up by, and pouring freely from, the dying that lay in scarlet speckles and streams across the dusty stone and brick quickly oxidized to an unnoticeable brown. It was as if the terrain of the desert itself was rushing to reclaim all those who lived within the once vibrant city and was hurrying to erase any sign humans had ever dwelled there.

Baki stood on one the observational balconies protruding from the side of the Kazekage's Tower and noted the few shinobi who could be spared for scouting patrols in the city leaping in blurs from rooftop to rooftop. He could only hope he wouldn't see another of them suddenly crumple mid leap and plummet from the starry desert sky towards the darkened streets below.

The battle-hardened jounin didn't really need the reports from the scouts to relay to the Central Intelligence Office or the Emergency Relief Detachment to be able to accurately reconstruct the state of the city. It was clear enough that the concentrated efforts of the entire village were failing to have any visible effect on the containment or treatment of the plague, and failing completely. Everyday when personnel reported for the senior officer muster another body showed up horribly weakened, or didn't show up at all. It was especially frightening to note that shinobi seemed to be more susceptible to this unnamed pathogen than the civilians at this stage of infection, and neither conventional nor experimental treatments did anything other than temporarily halt the progression of symptoms.

Baki was not accustomed to being frightened. He had faced life and death struggles on numerous occasions during his life-long career as a shinobi. He had had full-grown man attempting to kill him since he was a twelve-year-old boy, had seen fellow soldiers destroyed by denoted explosives and ninjutsu attacks that were impossible to avoid. He had seen old teammates and admired senpai reduced to bloody pieces, charred to ash, and melted by poisons. But never had the enemy been unknowable, impossible to resist, and impossible to fight. The finest minds in Suna had worked themselves to exhaustion, picked through every possibility and option available, but they could uncover nothing that wasn't directly obvious and common knowledge even to the simplest citizens of the suffering city.

Every effort had been made by the shinobi forces in accordance with the council's instructions to keep the news of Suna's extreme vulnerability from spreading and all applicable emergency protocols had been applied to keep the number of shinobi available for foreign missions and escorts at minimal levels, but soon there wouldn't even be enough of their forces sufficiently healthy to so much as man the observation posts along the city walls. Baki knew he wasn't the only nin quietly awaiting the first word of insubordination, when the first teams would refuse to return to a plague-ridden city. The situation would be completely unmanageable soon. The situation was very close to being that desperate already.

Two chuunin in uniform appeared out of the darkened sky and landed before him on bended knee, fists on the floor of the balcony. Baki didn't even need to hear the preliminary report to know exactly what would be said.

"Sir! The number of infected and fallen in the streets continues to increase at the rates predicted by the Chief Medical Officer."

The voice of the chuunin who had spoken didn't carry the inflections of the strained or ill. Good.

"Understood," Baki replied curtly. "Dismissed."

"Hai!" The pair of scouts disappeared from view, heading inside the lamp lit tower to report the numbers of their findings in greater detail to the appropriate personnel.

Although he kept his posture rigid as befitting a lone sentry on duty, internally Baki's broad shoulders sagged in weariness. Before him, beyond the railing of the balcony, the stars in the inky blackness of the sky stood out with a stark clearness. Beneath the stars the city answered the display of lights with only a handful of the number of points of illumination it should have. Only a few warm points of lantern and candle light were bright enough to be eye catching, and some of those were from the light sources carried by the crews removing the collected deceased.

He hoped the meeting convened in the inner chambers of the Tower would yield the resolutions all the shinobi were anxious for. He knew Gaara-sama was carefully cultivating an image that would encourage the denizens of the city to trust him, to see him as something more than the Shukaku he imprisoned, but this desire was overriding his willingness to go against the tradition of making decisions at council, as the leadership had in the days of tribal meetings, and exercise the autocratic authority that was warranted.

If the necessary decisions weren't made as Baki looked over the darkened city, he knew he would be a very lone sentry indeed.

*****O*****

Times like this made Kankuro glad he wasn't the Kage.

The council meeting had been filled with the useless words and mindless blathering of one petty, overdressed noblemen and overstuffed merchant after another. The puerile collection of bureaucrats waved their unworn hands around in the air and insistently gesticulated at each other, all acting as though they knew what they were talking about. None of them did of course; arrogant blowhards who talked but never acted on their words never did. Kankuro was sure Temari, who was seated on the other side of Gaara at the head of the table they all shared in common, was chewing her tongue in effort to keep silent in the face of this meaningless, useless talk.

The flapping of expensive fabrics resounding from the group of clucking dullards accompanied their typically empty pontificating. Their arguments were the same as what they had been since Temari had first suggested the lack of progress made towards finding a cure for the sickness warranted the potential consequences of summoning aid from their allied city of Konoha. The response from the shortsighted council was akin to childish horror. Every pasty and puffy face seated at the heavy table in the oppressive council room had acted as though she suggested they drink poison or pay income taxes. His older sister's attempts to convince the council using accumulated data and carefully analyzed reports directly from the scouts who were monitoring the situation in the city were utterly disregarded. Each valid conclusion and demonstration of corroborating facts was decried as sensationalist and doctored by the greedy fops.

It had become obvious to both older siblings it was time for their little brother to play the part of the 'bad guy'. A joint look from both Temari and Kankuro communicated to Gaara that they agreed it was time and the youngest sibling spoke a single word.

"Silence." And there was complete silence.

Gaara had ordered the idiots to be silent. And when Gaara wants silence it is silent.

Kankuro loved how that worked.

His little brother rose from his seat at the head of the table and placed his hands flat against the top of it. He lifted his head to pin the previously squabbling congregation with a steely glare that was somehow pointed at all of them simultaneously. Internally, Kankuro smirked at the knowledge Gaara wasn't intentionally trying to be intimidating.

"We have clearly heard enough," Gaara stated in his dry voice. "We have done nothing but talk through each of these sessions, while always coming to the same eventual decision before adjournment."

Gaara scanned the gaudily dressed group by shifting his pale green eyes from one side of the table to the other. Some of the more cowardly businessmen present flinched and fidgeted under the weight of his flat gaze.

Gaara made certain he had the entire council's undivided attention before continuing. "I will not accept another decision to simply divert resources to investigations of the source of this outbreak or try to maintain life as usual beyond basic containment strategies." Gaara paused in his speech, clearly daring anyone to speak up against him. If there would be any murmurings against the next set of actions to be undertaken they needed to be addressed immediately to prevent any undermining of the aid of the group from Konoha.

Kankuro resisted the urge to smirk. It had taken some combined cajoling on the part of him and Temari, but in the end they had convinced their doubtful brother defying the expressed will of the majority of the council would not hurt his reputation among the populace.

"The latest reports from the city indicate all attempts at containments have failed miserably and quarantines have not impeded the spread of illness in the slightest."

Kankuro felt his brother let a bit of killing intent seep into the crowded room. His little brother and Kage had decided if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right.

Awesome.

"Reports from the hospital outline in no uncertain terms the fact that no progress has been made towards understanding this disease, it's origin, or a developing cure."

Gaara's voice clipped to an abrupt halt. His eyes swung sharply to one side to glare venomously at a puffy merchant, so swathed in silks he could be mistaken for a badly decorated couch, who had dropped his multi-chinned jaw to argue. The rotund man froze with his yap hanging open.

"Do you have more a more reliable source of information?" Gaara challenged, his dry voice perfectly even. His roughened tenor was quiet but the sheer suffocating and crushing feeling of Gaara's presence and displeasure alone was more powerful than a raging roar.

Kankuro recognized the tawdry collection of fabrics as being a spice baron that relied heavily on international trade to support his business in such a pricy commodity. Kankuro couldn't decide if the trembling man was brave or just plain stupid when he kept talking.

The merchant's first attempted at speaking ended in little more than a breath shakily exhaled. Kankuro felt one of his eyebrows arch up as the pompous rich man tired again.

"I-I kn-know where you are going with this-s line of reasoning," he stuttered pathetically as the blood visibly drained out of his sweat-covered face. "You are going to put f-forward a motion to send for aid when you know very well that would be an admission of weakness to our enemies."

The man was stupid, Kankuro decided.

When the first reports of an unknown illness in what used to be viewed as the slums of the prospering city were reported by the hospital staff after conferences with social workers, the council had begrudged the time it took to even mention it at the opening of the following meeting. The narrow-minded plutocracy had shown equal distaste when it was noted that no progress had been made in identifying the sickness or developing an effective treatment the week after that. To these complacent fools who were busily taking every advantage of the loosened regulations regarding commerce now that Gaara had pushed legislation revising previously isolationist policies, any piece of business that did not directly impact their capital flow was a nuisance at best. What were a few people who didn't have the money to buy their products anyway? It mattered that they were suffering because why?

It wasn't until some of the social workers began to become ill themselves, and shortly thereafter when the nurses and the shinobi monitoring events in the name of public safety began to become ill and suffer a much more rapid decline did the council bother to take notice. Even then, the council members immediately wanted to know what measures could be taken to quarantine low income housing and how to prevent visitors from outside the city noticing anything was amiss in Suna.

They didn't want any rumors spreading. It might have a negative influence on the economy.

It was only when the symptoms began a rapid spread through the ninja of the village did they begin to show strong concern, and even then, it was only because too many shinobi would be on sick leave to keep up appearances. The assembly demanded to know why the medic-nin weren't coming up with answers regarding the disease. What did they get paid for anyway? Why were village resources being committed to a specialty hospital if this was the best they could do? People were beginning to die now, correct? Why not just empty out the old tenements and relocate the rabble? Who cared where? It's not like such people mattered.

Despite all the excuses and misdirection, Kankuro and his siblings knew very well what the council's real concern was: What if someone actually important gets sick and not merely one of these expendable scum?

It seemed denial was their favorite strategy. The councilmen didn't even hide it when they all closed their eyes and turned their fashionably accessorized heads away during the reports from Temari that held facts they wanted to ignore. Now that the disease seemed to have evolved to the point were death was becoming a frequent outcome, they seemed to come to the conclusion money equated invulnerability. People with money were safe and the only ones susceptible were the burdensome poor. They just wanted the corpses out of the street to maintain the cities appeal to visiting traders and for no other reason. Kankuro was convinced none of them followed up on their promise made to Gaara to see the deaths for themselves, to get a real idea of the scope of the crisis. No matter how the death counts climbed, as long as it didn't effect them behind their lush, gated gardens, who cared?

Gaara had spoken of his increasing frustrations to his siblings in private. Kankuro was awed by his younger brother's dedication to improving the lives of the citizens under his protection and observing the voice of the people, however badly represented by the council, as much as he could. He loathed undermining the democratic process and acting autonomously like their father, the previous Kazekage, had, but the near hysterically selfish and defensive behavior of the noblemen and merchants fostered by years of tyranny was resulting in a deadly stubbornness on the part of the council. It had taken Baki's insistence that not only was the disease worsening, but that soon the shinobi forces of Suna would be depleted enough that they could no longer properly defend the city, and their old sensei almost pleading, for Gaara to let some of the more fearsome aspects of his personality to reappear while performing his duties as Kage.

"I'm going to send a personally written letter to the Hokage requesting aid in determining the origin of the illness and identifying an effective treatment," Gaara stated in no uncertain terms. He looked directly at the councilmen who had spoken up. "The dispatch will be discreet, as will the form of aid I am requesting." The intimidating redhead shifted his eyes so that it was clear he was addressing the council at large. "Konoha is our closest ally. The Godaime Hokage is an honorable woman would not abandon an ally who makes a formal request for aid. Furthermore, she will be sensitive to our precarious situation and send that aid in an appropriate form."

One of the council members present, an older man, who in Kankuro's opinion, was totally freaking senile, sputtered out his scoff. Kankuro didn't bother to hide his reflexive scowl. The decrepit, doddering old excuse for a leader had been a major obstacle to ending this plague from the first moment Temari had begun suggesting possible responses to the mounting crisis.

The gaunt figure opened his mouth, revealing badly decayed teeth, to speak. "You really think another Hidden Village will not take this opportunity to learn our vulnerabilities and disadvantages for future use?" He spoke with a tone one might use to address a slow child. "You shinobi are all opportunistic murderers." Kankuro felt his fingers twitch at that, eager to reach for his kunai.

"The Hokage may appear to fulfill our contracts of alliance but it will be nothing more than a typical ninja's subterfuge," the withered voice wheezed on. Kankuro barely swallowed his growl and envied his composed brother's stoicism. The old imbecile kept talking. "We can find a cure for this illness." He waved a wrinkled, liver spotted hand dismissively, as though the deceased pilling up in the streets was a trifling thing beneath his notice. "But we cannot remove the information collected about our village from the minds of the Konoha nin without risking an international incident. The risk is too great."

"You are wrong." Gaara's flat statement caused the old fool to visibly jerk and stare in wide-eyed indignation at the Kage. "All of the experts studying and observing this crisis have assured me the death toll will continue to climb. Even if I was not certain further infection would leave the village insufficiently fortified, more deaths would not be acceptable."

The councilmen tried to speak again.

"Dead pilling up in the street is not acceptable." Although he still spoke softly, Gaara sent a wave of killing intent towards the silk swathed old man, who was quivering with righteous outrage.

"I will not be bullied!" his creaky voice blustered, spittle falling in flecks onto the polished tabletop. "This illness will run it's course and be gone. Deaths are inevitable! And the dead in that old ghetto are measly vermin!"

A tightly clenched fist crashed onto the hard top of the table. Kankuro looked out of the corner of his eye at his sister on the other side of Gaara, easily identifiable as the only blonde in the room. Temari had been sitting silently with her arms crossed, displaying admirable self-control, but he could see her formidable temper had finally reached its limit.

"You are out of line," she spat, deep blue eyes burning holes in the bothersome old idiot. "And the only people in Suna who are vermin are those who live off of the deaths of others, like rats in a sewer gnawing on rotting carrion."

Kankuro smiled a bit. Temari had such a way with words when she wanted to.

Gaara quickly cut off the dishonorable elder before he could retort. "This is not open for discussion." Numerous incredulous and uncomprehending faces looked back to the Kage. "To save the lives of the citizens of Suna, to protect those who trust me with their lives, I am requesting aid from Konoha." He let another wave of killer intent wash through the room to remind the dissenters exactly whom they were dealing with. Elite assassins hadn't failed to kill him since he was a preschooler for nothing. "I am exercising the right and duty of the Kazekage to protect his people by any means necessary. This is a usage of my Crisis Dictation."

Kankuro enjoyed the way some of the more slothful council members tried in vain to remember the details of the historical legal power they had certainly never bothered to read about, let alone develop expertise in. He watched some of them exhibit pained expressions at having to perform critical thinking of any kind. They probably had people they paid to do that for them.

"I am sending out the missive this evening," Gaara said. He pulled himself up to his full height. Despite the way that the insomnia and strain of containing the Ichibi had stunted his brother's growth, Gaara was still taller and most definitely fitter than many of the so-called men present. "I expect all assembled here to offer the Konoha shinobi any assistance the may ask for once they arrive." Gaara looked every council member in the eye. At least he did to those who could stand to look him in the eye. "Any obstruction will be considered traitorous behavior in a time of crisis."

A couple of the assembled councilmen gasped, a few even whimpered, but none said a word.

Gaara looked to the side towards Kankuro, who got the unspoken message. He rose to his feet to close the meeting.

"This meeting of the Village Council is adjourned."

Temari, the only sibling not yet standing, silently stood up from the table and followed tensely behind Gaara as he lead the way out of the council chamber while the cowed council members waited their turn to exit.

*****O*****

The wooden door to the Kage's office swung open as the guards cleared the way for the siblings before stepping aside. All three passed though the door and into the quiet, austerely furnished room and it's ever-present stacks of paperwork. The seals set in place on all four walls and the floor and ceiling guaranteed they would have total privacy and could speak candidly. Kankuro closed the door behind them as Gaara made way his across the clean swept floor to his document covered desk and Temari collapsed gracelessly in a stuffed sitting chair. The sandy-haired kunoichi groaned aloud before placing a gloved hand to her face and proceeded to massage her aching temples with her fingertips.

Council meetings in that windowless little dungeon of a meeting room were always a chore, but this one had been more draining than most. And considering how the last series of meeting with those morons had gone, that was saying something. Ever since the first reports of an unknown illness propagating among the civilians who lived in the low-income district had been brought to her attention, it had been one farce and disaster after another with the council.

The illness had spread unnoticed at first, apparently it had a long incubation period, and had appeared in a variety of people from numerous age groups and in varying states of health. Public health officials had investigated every conceivable avenue of infection once the unusual symptoms were recognized as a previously unknown emerging infection. The investigators had meticulously checked water supplies, food, searched for a contaminant in incoming shipments of cloth and clothing, and they even considered the possibility that vents had opened up in the rock of the extinct volcanoes and were releasing noxious fumes. Every potential source had been slowly eliminated from the list. The absolute lack of explanation had lead Temari to go on some of the investigations personally to examine the evidence as it lay in the field. She had carefully looked through the tenements for any hard to detect mold or fungi. She had climbed over rocks to search for any changes in the local geography. She examined the city wells herself, even taking samples of the slime and algae clinging to the stone walls lining the shaft back to the lab for further scrutiny. Whatever the source of the disease was, it was refusing to be uncovered.

The disease itself was just as much of an enigma as it's elusive source. Temari cursed the fact that she didn't have the perfect chakra control necessary to be a medic-nin and had to limit her study of medicine to the role of combat medic. She didn't have enough of a background to participate in the medical investigation proper.

She had been told one of the first symptoms was a mild fever, something easily overlooked and a probable cause for the initial unnoticed spread. There was also sweating, weakness, and all the other classic signs of infection followed by septicemia and in some victims, mostly the shinobi, osteomyelitis. The progression of the disease as it moved from the civilian citizens to the ninja forces aiding in relief efforts lead some of the scientists working in the forensic labs to speculate the pathogen was capable of rapid evolution. This combined with the not yet identified mode of transmission lead some medical personnel to speculate that a virus was the type of pathogen they were combating. However, just like every other kind of treatment they had tried, broad spectrum antibiotics, fungicides, steroids, and autoimmune medications, anti-viral treatments had not made so much as a dent in the disease progression.

Anti-fever medications and cold packs helped with the fever, and IV drips insured proper hydration and nutrition and medications to keep the victims blood pressure elevated and blood count up bought those infected time, but they weren't enough to prevent patient decline and eventual death. She spent some time at the bedside of one the first shinobi infected to see the symptoms and deterioration with her own eyes. At the time, the hospital still had beds available.

The walls of the isolation ward had been coated in a white plaster that had been sanded to perfect smoothness. The air was crisp and antiseptic, having been filtered numerous times over and then recycled back into the room. The infected shinobi had already slipped into a coma, and bore the distinctive unhealthy pallor of the ill beneath his olive skin.

Temari approached the comatose man as he lay under carefully laundered sheets. The nurses attending told her he had initially made small noises and twitched in his sleep like other coma patients, but as the disease progressed he had become to weak even for those small things.

Making sure to keep her filter mask in place, the fabric that composed it bearing a seal that cleaned the air, Temari extended a hand covered in a medical glove to pick up the chart attached to the end of the bed. Focused blue eyes perused the information on the top sheet.

His blood pressure and heart rate were in a continuous state of decline. He was continuously loosing fluids through all possible means and blood was beginning to leak from his capillaries. Necrosis was beginning to set in some of major organs, and internal bleeding was beginning to become a problem.

The kunoichi noted the veins and arteries in his face and arms were becoming visible as the man's skin turned translucent. Temari carefully extended her hand to check the motionless shinobi's eyes by delicately lifting his eyelids, and saw bloody tears collecting beneath the close lids as well as more blood pooling freely in the jaundiced sclera. She gently closed the eyelid again before stepping away and returning the chart to the end of the bed.

She turned to look at the fluids collecting in a transparent jar beside the man's bed, the clear tube connected at the top probably connected to a catheter leading to his bladder. The fluid was reddish and darkening to brown.

That shinobi had also been among the first ninja to pass away. Temari had personally examined the autopsy report while conversing with the hospital staff and the resident expert who was charged with training hunter nin to exam bodies for signs of tampering by foreign shinobi. None of the experts present were able to determine the nature of the disease or suggest a new path of investigation. Kankuro already had a whole squad of ninja buried in both the dingy halls of hospital archives and the annals of previous mission reports to look for any clues, ideas, or even inspiration. So far, the only results of the intensive investigations among the endless shelves were eyestrain and, courtesy of one klutzy genin, a paper cut.

Temari sighed heavily through her nose and continued to slouch lazily in the chair while rubbing the throbbing temples. She could hear her two brothers beginning to discuss what had occurred in the council chambers.

"Well, that went as well as could be expected," Kankuro said from where he stood in front of the desk, his obnoxious smirk slightly distorting the lines of his face paint.

That was true enough. The council had gotten so used to Gaara's magnanimous attitude they had forgotten he wasn't the interim committee that had been in place following their father's death. The committee had been essentially a bunch of wall paid yes-men. Such a conglomeration of spoiled buffoons so used to being catered to had nearly forgotten that there were people in the world perfectly capable of saying the words 'no' and 'you are wrong'. Some of the councilmen were probably going to go home to their posh little mansions and throw tantrums fit for a toddler.

"They were not pleased," Gaara observed dryly. Her brother sat in his chair behind the Kage's desk and glanced askance at the massive pile of papers framing either side of his head as if his disproving glare could make them vanish as easily as it did the members of the council. "However, I am satisfied with the outcome. I believe they understand any interference in the activities of the aid from Konoha will bear a heavy penalty." Gaara shifted to his green-eyed gaze to his dark eyed brother, who nodded in agreement. Gaara then looked towards his seated sister, who returned the attention from under the arch of her hand as she continued to work against her burgeoning headache. She should probably go get some aspirin after this.

"Temari," Gaara began, "since you have headed the investigation of the disease since the beginning, I'll ask you to continue in that role."

Temari nodded in affirmation.

"Kankuro," Gaara turned to his puppeteer brother, "when the aid from Konoha arrives, I want you receive them and insure they have access to all resources they may require. I'm also going to ask that you keep an eye on the activities of the councilmen in the event they attempt any interference."

Kankuro nodded his head sharply so that the cat ears on his hood flapped slightly. Temari doubted that even the most ingrained bad habits of the council would have survived exposure to Gaara's decidedly impressive killing intent. Plenty of the decadent pseudo-aristocrats had witnessed the dismemberment of the bodies of the unsuccessful assassins during Gaara's youth. She was sure her brother's chakra mixed with a little murder had resulted in a pleasant trip down memory lane for them all. It ought to be more than enough to dissuade the council members from trying to deny the Konoha nin from accessing locations or information they would rather try to hoard for themselves. After all, even the council knew one couldn't manage a trading monopoly when one is dead. As Kankuro once quipped, people tend to ignore the memos after that point.

Gaara reached down to pull open a drawer of his paper covered desk and removed an inkwell and pen. Normally, he would call in one of secretaries to dictate, but a letter of this importance required his personal hand. He hadn't promised the council to write it in his own hand simply to placate them.

Temari watched her youngest brother concentrate to remember the incredibly intricate and flowery language required for such communications through one cracked eye. She really should be offering advice on the nuances of phrasing since her brother's underdeveloped sense of empathy sometimes prevented him from properly grasping the minutiae of such interactions. Temari begin focusing her thoughts on the rules of structure and vocabulary usage she had been taught by her tutors as young girl growing up in the Kage's family, only to have a stab of pain shoot sharply between her temples.

"Ungh." Temari pressed the gloved hand she had arched across her forehead firmly against her face in response to the pain. She shifted on the cushion of the chair to lean forward with her elbows on her knees, head held firmly between her two hands.

"Temari?" The concerned voice of Kankuro made it's way to her ears, but she set it aside as a growing sense of dread begin to curl it's way through her senses and flush her skin hot. Normally when faced with a headache, she would take down the four ponytails she wore to release any tension in her scalp, but she had a sinking feeling this was not an ordinary headache.

"Temari?" Kankuro said again, this time his voice was much closer to her. She peered through her fingers to see he had kneeled down next to her, his expression one of intense concern. "You don't look so good."

"Back away from me, Kankuro," Temari ordered in her best no-nonsense tone, blue eyes bright, carefully covering her mouth so she wouldn't inadvertently breath on him. "My forehead is burning up. I'm running a fever."

Kankuro's face morphed into an expression of horror as Temari begin to use one hand to push on the stiff arm of the chair to help herself up to her feet. She was already feeling fatigued. In fact, she had been feeling fatigued through most of the council meeting but she had considered that a mere side effect of having to be in the stale air and frustrating atmosphere of the blasted council room in the first place. The heaviness in her limbs and balance checks arising from the heightening sense of vertigo told her she needed to get herself to the hospital as quickly as possible, not only to place herself in quarantine to protect her brothers and fellow shinobi, but to buy herself time. There was a small chance she was simply experiencing an unseasonable flu, but her finely honed survival instincts were insisting she was in grave danger. She opened her eyes only to witness the earth-tone colors of the room swim mightily in her vision before her balance failed her completely.

Kankuro reached out to grab the sleeve of kimono and right her as she sensed rather than saw Gaara cross the wood floor and grab her free arm to slip around his shoulders.

"Temari? How long?" Kankuro asked, his discipline in critical situations not able to completely mask the growing dread and pain in his voice.

"Since the meeting," she breathed with her chin carefully tucked towards the collar of her kimono. She swallowed, her mouth was beginning to feel dry and the rush of adrenaline that had followed her realization was swiftly accelerating her heartbeat. It was likely she was already beginning to perspire. She needed to calm herself down to impede the spread of the pathogen.

Temari took deep steady breaths as her two brothers opened the door and half carried, half dragged her out of the office and into the adjoining hallway.

"Kazekage-sama, I-" Baki's words, whatever they were, cut off abruptly as he saw the brothers drag her around the doorframe. "Oh, no." Temari summoned the effort to lift her fair-head even as a small part of her, one that would always be the genin kunoichi trying to earn her sensei's approval, beamed at the knowledge he was worried about her.

"We need to get her to the hospital now." Kankuro growled as Temari looked with blurred vision at the face of her old sensei. His face was a blur of color; white cloth, tan skin, and red face paint.

"Please take over my duties for me Baki-sensei, unless Gaara orders you otherwise," Temari asked, her voice forced by her iron will, forged by years of service as a soldier, to be even and stable.

"Hai!"

Temari saw the chuunin that were flanking Baki come forward as if to take her from her brothers, but Gaara's words stopped them in their tracks.

"I will take Temari to the hospital."

It made sense. Despite how ill and sickly he may have looked growing up, short for his age, underweight, and unnaturally pale with the dark ring of built up toxins completely encircling his eyes, Gaara had never suffered so much as a runny nose in all of his life. She had once asked her Uncle Yashamaru why this was and he responded he supposed it was the work of the biju Gaara held. Gaara was as immune from illness as much as he was from injury. Well, more so now that they knew Gaara could be injured by loud mouth genin from Konoha. To this day, it blew her mind that a brat from the famously sentimental Konohagakure no Sato who had all the hallmarks of a born-loser had defeated her youngest brother in one-on-one combat.

Temari felt Kankuro's larger frame slip away from where he had been supporting one side of her to give Gaara room to slip the arm that was not beneath her shoulders under her knees to pick her up. Gaara must have told Kankuro to do so with a look since she hadn't heard him utter a word.

"I'm taking Temari directly to the hospital. Upon my return I will prepare a dispatch to the Hokage. Have our fastest eagle prepared to deliver it." Gaara's orders were spoken with the same dry detachment with which he had addressed the council, and Temari supposed some of the chuunin observing them might find his response to the situation cold. She knew that wasn't true. In addition to the body heat that was seeping through the fabric of her svelte brothers Kage robes, there was also the beat of his heart. It was decidedly quicker than it's normal resting pace.

_He's concerned for my well being…_

"Hai! Kazekage-sama!"

Temari felt Gaara begin to rush with the agile, sure-footed speed of a ninja through the many corridors of the tower and then into the cool air of the night to get to the hospital. Even though she herself was not contributing to the motion she still felt dizziness assaulting her balance and orientation.

_This illness really is progressing more swiftly with time…_

*****O*****

A flock of social songbirds twittered merrily amongst themselves as they perched in the delicate branches of a flowering tree in full bloom. Judging by the look of it, Shizune would wager those were ume blossoms. The kunoichi passed the tree and kept walking through the colorful streets of Konoha, lively and full of activity brought about by the exceptionally fine weather. Vendors had their wares out in full view, brightly dyed cloths, hairpins made with colorful jewels, and more rainbow colored flowers than Shizune could name. Many of the stores and buildings had fresh coats of vibrant paints, and the leafy trees of the city were lush and green. People chattered animatedly and laughed amongst themselves as they examined the items for sale, or, in the case of some small children, tried to climb the trees.

Bright sunshine poured in through the window beside the main doorway of the Hokage Tower as Shizune stepped over the threshold and back into her place of work, her spirits high. Her lunch had been especially pleasant. Instead of eating her normal bento, Shizune had decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out into the city for food. The sky was a beautiful blue dotted with fluffy white clouds, and the sun was just bright enough to warm but not overpowering. The light breezes that had followed the brief rain shower that had left a clean scent in the air teased her short dark bangs and the edges of her purple kimono.

For some reason, she had been in the mood for dango and had actually had a pleasant chat with Mitarashi Anko, who was finishing up advanced training in tracking and eager to take on her first assignment. The purple haired woman, infamous for her brash personality, had made for surprisingly good company.

Shizune had approached the open-air shop and stepped into the shade of its umbrella to place her order with the smiling girl who was waiting to receive it, when a vaguely familiar voice called out to her.

"Hey! Shizune-san!" Shizune turned to see the rambunctious exam proctor sitting cross-legged on one of the establishment's benches, light kicking her free leg and taking a sip of her tea. "Get the bocchan! It's great today!"

Shizune gave the friendly woman a small smile in return and turned back to the cashier to say, "One order of bocchan."

"Man, how rarely do I get to talk to you?" Anko asked with a lop-sided grin as Shizune settled down on the bench next to her, order in hand. "Normally I only get to see you when you're running from one place to another, arms full of papers or that little piggy of Tsunade-sama's," Anko finished before taking a big swig of her tea.

"Ton Ton," Shizune said before taking a careful bite of her dango. They really were good today.

"Yeah her," Anko said breezily. "I want to say 'hi' but you're always in such a rush."

Shizune took another careful bite of her dango and noted that some of the men walking by were eyeing Anko. Shizune felt an urge to roll her eyes. You would think people would be used to Anko by now. Surely it was not that hard to see that beneath her mesh suit she was wearing a breathable, lightweight flesh colored body stocking. Then again, Shizune knew Anko dressed the way she did specifically to "mess with people", as she put it.

"So, same old-same old with you?" Anko asked, taking another huge bite out of her dango and chewing enthusiastically.

Shizune swallowed and answered, "More or less. There hasn't been too much going on at the Tower except for the usual." She took a sip of her green tea. It was quite good, too.

"No news is good news," Anko said, stuffing the last dango on her current skewer into her mouth whole.

"True." Shizune took small bite of dango before asking, "How about you?"

"Can't complain," Anko said through a mouthful of chewed dango before swallowing. "I finished up my last round of training and am almost done getting the last of my papers finalized," she said brightly.

"Tracking right?" Shizune asked, looking over at Anko over her cup of tea.

"Yup, the last certification I needed!" She turned to look at Shizune with a huge grin stretched across her features. "Hopefully, I'll get my first mission before the week is out!" She turned her attention to back to her tea and drained the cup in a single gulp.

Shizune made a mental note to spend her lunch with Anko more often as she began to return her mind to work mode. Shizune's heels clacked there way across the polished wood floor as she made her way towards the stairs that ascended to the floor where the Hokage's office was located.

"Ah! Shizune! You're back." The friendly voice of Hagane Kotetsu called out across the spacious entry hall. The dark-haired nin wasn't typically in the Hokage Tower since he was usually running errands elsewhere, and Shizune greeted him with a warm smile as she altered course to where he was standing at the side of the room, leaning on his elbow which was resting atop a shipping crate. She supposed he thought he looked rather cute that way, with that piece of cloth stretched fashionably across his face and his easy-going posture. At least the guy wasn't uptight like some of the older shinobi she had to put up with.

"Here, I'll let you take this to Tsunade-sama. It should make her day," he explained, lifting up the crate with two hands and offering it to the slender medic-nin.

"What is it?" Shizune asked as she accepted the package. The label on it read 'sake', but that shouldn't be enough on it's own to make Tsunade-sama happy. The Hokage kept a sizeable stash hidden away in various parts of the Hokage Tower at all times. It wasn't unusual for Shizune to be going around the Tower hunting for 'misplaced' paperwork and come across a bottle of sake tucked away up in the rafters of a storeroom or in stashed a hidden drawer in a desk. Shizune knew Tsunade didn't do this out of secrecy or alcoholism; she simply didn't want other people getting into her stash. Tsunade-sama hated sharing her booze.

"A shipment of sake directly from the Rice Country," the tall chuunin replied. "You can read the letter in detail, but the short of it is they had a mix up at their distributor and to apologize for it they sent some of their best sake free!" Kotetsu beamed at Shizune, only to look puzzled a moment later as the woman rushed towards the staircase in a flurry of clacking heels.

*****O*****

Tsunade-hime, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, sat in her chair at her desk in front of the wall of windows in her office and mentally cursed that thing known as responsibility. She turned her head to look enviously at her pet pig Ton Ton, contentedly dosing on a soft rug in a puddle of warm sunshine. The little pig snored lightly, and occasionally one pink ear would flap slightly in a gesture of happy comfort.

Tsunade felt her lips purse into a jealous pout before turning back to the mind-numbingly dull piece of parchment in her hands. The document was, she was told, a proposal outlining the details of a suggested restructuring of the municipal zoning codes in Konoha to create more streamlined conversions between zones. Tsunade couldn't know for sure because the wording was written in such jargon-ridden legalese it might as well have been an ancient text from the sunken cities off the coasts of the Wave Country. She was getting crossed-eyed just looking at the mess of chicken scratch.

Tsunade set the proposal down on her paper-swamped desk and pinched two nail polished tipped fingers on the bridge of nose to ease the tension headache she felt forming. When was Shizune getting back anyway? She needed to think of a way trick her apprentice into taking on this piece of… joy.

A muffled "Let me in! Let me in!" came through the closed door to her office, grabbing Tsunade's attention. Well, all she to do was ask.

The door was flung open and a harried looking Shizune came bursting through, her expression intense and the grip she had on the crate white-knuckled. The young woman clacked purposefully up to the desk.

"Shizune, what is this?" Tsunade demanded, arching one eyebrow over an amber colored eye as the young woman placed the crate on the desk, upsetting one of the teetering stacks of paperwork in the process. The stack fell to the floor with a series of flutters and soft thud, startling Ton Ton and causing the pig to oink in surprise as she sat up with a shake of her head.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune started, slightly breathless from her rush up the stairs. "It's your latest sake shipment form the Rice Country."

Tsunade felt her other eyebrow join the first. This was especially bad; sake should be good news.

"There was an error in your order," the dark-haired woman continued, the expression on her youthful face grim. "To make up for it, the distillery sent you their finest offering. Complimentary."

Tsunade shot to her feet, her geta hitting the floor with a sharp clack. The Hokage gripped the farthest corner of the wooden crate with one powerful hand and with an application of her trademark strength yanked the top free, nails and all, without the use of a crow bar. One flaxen ponytail slipped over shoulder as she leaned over to dig through the wood-shavings and grab the ceramic neck of the most expensive looking bottle.

Tsunade noted Shizune visually inspecting the bottle as she turned the ornate tag tied around the bottleneck over to read the artfully written description. Tsunade frowned.

"Rising White Phoenix." The buxom blonde exchanged a look with Shizune. This was the company's signature honjozo-shu. This was serious.

Tsunade placed the bottle on the desktop with a thunk and reached into a desk drawer to remove her ochoko set as Shizune focused on opening the bottle. Tsunade took the opened bottle from her apprentice and poured a small amount of the drink into the cup.

Tsunade observed the liquid with a critical eye, noting the transparent gold color. The Hokage took a sip of her free sake and closed her eyes to focus on the feel and flavor of the beverage.

Dark lashes parted to reveal amber colored eyes. Tsunade turned to look at Shizune, who was anxiously awaiting the verdict.

"It's exquisite."

Shizune let out her held breath rush. This could only mean one thing.

"What do you think it is, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, referring to what terrible thing had occurred or would soon occur.

"Did you notice anything amiss while you were in the village?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune shook her head to indicate she hadn't seen anything of interest. Tsunade set down the cup as she considered the reports she had reviewed that morning. Nothing in any of them indicated difficulties outside of the normal issues encountered by shinobi performing their duties. She watched an empty space on her desk, halfway expecting one of Jiraiya's messenger frogs to appear in a poof of smoke.

"I don't know what we're dealing with just yet. Remain at the ready and keep a watch for anything abnormal."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune stood at attention, and then turned on her heel to exit the office. The sounds of commotion from the other side of the doorway caught the attention of both women. The door slammed open for the second time that day to reveal one of the chuunin who manned the communications towers.

"Hokage-sama!" the man called out as he staggered to a stop in the middle of the sunlight office. "We just received a message brought by Suna's fastest eagle bearing the personal seal of the Kazekage. It's being decoded as we speak!"

Tsunade's expression set into a series of firm lines as she considered the implications of such a dispatch. That sake had better be excellent to the last drop.

*****O*****

Tsunade sat in her chair, the decrypted message in her hand. Across from on the other side of the desk, Shizune had pulled up a chair and was sitting on the edge of it, her focus on the parchment in the Hokage's hand.

Tsunade's honey-colored eyes flicked back and forth rapidly as she quickly absorbed the information contained within. She handed the paper over to the eagerly awaiting Shizune, and then closed her eyes to focus on organizing her thoughts and formulating a plan.

A previously unknown illness had appeared in the city of Suna and resisted all efforts to check it's spread or develop a cure. Even the treatments administered to aid in the relief of symptoms had limited success. The incidence of fatalities was increasing with time rather than diminishing.

The medical professional in Tsunade was itching to run to Suna and gain access to every one of those patients and review all associated records. The idea that there were so many people suffering with no hope of cure infuriated the medic in her and made the leader in her want to grill Gaara about why the little upstart had not sent out a request for relief sooner. At the same time, the reluctant politician in her who had to deal with stubborn elders and short-sighted businessmen knew the young Kazekage was certainly dealing with his own version of her own headaches. It was likely he was facing even more opposition than she normally did considering how people tend to panic in the face of deadly threats.

Shizune put down the paper and looked to her longtime master, her dark eyes sharp with purpose. "What are your orders, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade opened her eyes. The delicate nature of situation meant they could not risk suggesting to any observers Suna's imperiled condition. Any indication the desert city was vulnerable would no doubt result in one or more of Suna's enemies attempting to exploit the situation. The relief sent would have to be suitably subtle to avoid attracting unwanted scrutiny. A team should be sent, but not with anything more than the usual supplies to prevent unwanted questions. The heart of the team should undoubtedly be a medic-nin. The question of who to send and who should be sent as support was the critical question.

"We'll assemble a standard four men cell to dispatch to Suna," Tsunade replied.

"Should I summon my team, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune's face was full of conviction.

Tsunade shook her head in denial. Dispatching Shizune to Suna would have unwanted consequences, not the least of which was losing her right-hand woman.

"I need you here. In addition, after all the years we spent traveling in the countryside you would be too recognizable as a disciple of mine." She flicked her eyes towards the younger woman, who looked disappointed, but understood completely.

"We'll send Sakura instead. She has the medical capability but is not as likely to be recognized." Tsunade considered for a moment. The rest of cell should consist of people her other disciple was familiar with to insure the team functioned as well as possible immediately. Sakura and her new team members would not have time to get used to each other as they might on more casual missions. Despite the uniformity of ninja training and regulations, the ability to predict the individual responses of your teammates could be the difference between sure success and deadly failure. Such familiarity only came from experience working together.

Since teams normally had just one medical ninja, including a second may also draw attention. The rest of the team should consist of reconnaissance specialists to aid in the continuing investigation of the source and transmission patterns of the illness. Considering how long Suna had tried and failed to understand anything about the sickness, the more information gathered, no matter how seemingly irrelevant, the better.

Members of Team 8 from Sakura's year made a natural choice. Normally she would have assigned Sakura's old genin cell to support her, but due to circumstances beyond Sakura's control that was obviously not an option.

"Kurenai is still on her mission to the Lightening Country," Tsunade stated, distinctly remembering sending the genjutsu specialist on the S-ranked mission. "The rest of her squad is still in Konoha?"

"Hai," Shizune replied. "None of the members have requested leave."

Good. Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata all had excellent information gathering skills and Sakura was familiar with both their jutsus and personalities. Shizune must have noticed the expression she on her face was the one she normally wore when she arrived at a conclusion because she began to hesitantly speak.

"Ano, Tsunade-sama," she said, looking slightly apologetic. "I doubt Hyuuga Hiashi-san will permit his oldest daughter to go on a mission into a diseased city where the disease is fatal and has no known cure."

Tsunade felt a spark of annoyance at the stipulations of the old contract her great uncle had signed with the Hyuuga when the clan agreed to live in Konoha. The clan head had the power to refuse any mission on behalf of any members of the clan should the head decide the missions posed conditions or risks that were unacceptable.

Although Hyuuga Hiashi was known for being one cold and ruthless man, a reputation not wholly undeserved, the progress Hinata and her cousin Neji had shown, both in ninja skill and emotional and psychological well being clearly demonstrated he cared in his own way for his family. Hinata was his eldest daughter and current heir to the headship of the clan. There was no possibility of convincing him he should allow Hinata to go on the mission and there was no way to hide the details as the contract required full disclosure.

There was also the issue of squad leader. It was best that Sakura not be appointed squad leader so she could focus on her medical investigation. Neither of the young men considered for the team had the experience necessary to lead. The most obvious choice for squad leader was Kakashi. He was one of the best ninja in the entire village and he had been Sakura's original sensei during her time as a genin. On the other hand, Kakashi's infamy and the large bounty beside his image in the Bingo Book meant it wasn't just other shinobi who actively kept a watch for his distinctive visage. It would be better to select a nin who didn't have such a reputation preceding them.

"How about Hyuuga Neji-san?" Shizune suggested sensibly. "He hasn't been assigned a mission as squad leader yet." Tsunade tilted her head in consideration as Shizune continued. "It would be beneficial to his career and Hiashi-san would be less likely to object, especially considering how soon it as after Neil's successful completions of the jounin exams."

Tsunade nodded her head in agreement. It was the main function of the branch family to protect the main family, and Neji was one of the most talented Byakugan users to ever be born into the Hyuuga clan. It was also an undeniable honor to be assigned the role of squad leader at such a young age and on such an important mission.

"Perhaps the messenger dispatched to the Hyuuga compound should be reminded to…" Shizune hesitated, somewhat uncomfortable, "assure Hinata she is not being left out."

Tsunade felt her eyebrows lift up, and then almost immediately settle back down. "I don't believe Hinata will view this as being left behind. Her team is merely being broken up into parts at this time." With Kurenai on her solo mission, her team wasn't truly leaving without her. Additionally, although Neji was her cousin, he was a jounin and Sakura had no connection to either of their previous teams whatsoever. Tsunade trusted that the pale-eyed young woman's self-confidence and maturity would allow her to see this as the practical concern that it was and not as something personal.

Tsunade sat up straight at her desk and looked Shizune directly in the eye to indicate she was ready to give orders. Shizune stood up out of her chair and shifted her posture to that of a subordinate at attention, indicating she was ready to receive them.

"Send out chuunin messengers to locate and summon Sakura, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Neji to my office immediately. In addition, send another messenger to locate Nara Shikamaru. I would like his thoughts on this mission for its duration," Tsunade finished.

"Hai!" Shizune turned away from Tsunade and ran across the floor of the office to execute the received orders. Tsunade watched her go as she considered the situation and Ton Ton grunted in her sleep. Not only was this a health crisis that could potentially result in an epidemic or full pandemic should it not be properly handled, there was the chance of diplomatic chaos and opportunistic warfare to top it all off.

Tsunade allowed herself a deep breath. She reached for the sake bottle she had stashed in her desk when she had ordered the rest to be removed by housekeeping while waiting for the Kazekage's dispatch to be decrypted. She had the feeling she was not going to be permitting herself to enjoy any more alcohol for a while after this one.

* * *

AN: Since not much is mentioned in the manga about what happened in Konoha during the time-skip, I decided to write a piece about what could have happened. Although, it is already one multi-chapter story and two one-shots. One of those one-shots is already posted.

The title of this story is an English translated lyric from the song The River Sings by Enya (which I do not own). The sound and lyrics of the song fit the story fairly well.

For pairings, see my note in Chapter 3.

Review if you like it.


	2. Mobilize

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 2

The breeze flowing in under the banners of the stall of Ichiraku Ramen brought in the cheerful chatter of those passing by on the sunlight street; as well as cool air to counter the heat generated by the giant boiling pots holding the many different flavors of ramen being diligently prepared by Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame. The shop, as always, was clean, homey, and inviting. The promise of comfort, delicious food, and good service should have meant a pleasant meal, and it would be so, Shino reasoned, if Kiba would just shut up.

"Man, Shino, you should have been there!" Kiba snickered madly to himself. He hunched over his steaming bowl of beef ramen, trying to smother the noise, and Shino wondered how his teammate hadn't yet snorted the spicy broth up his nose.

"If I had known ahead of time that this was the reason why you wished to dine at Ichiraku, I would have declined your offer." Shino turned his largely concealed face towards his broadly grinning companion so the Inuzuka could see his eyebrows bunching together in disapproval over the dark shades that hide his eyes.

Kiba's Cheshire grin merely widened as his own eyes narrowed in challenge. "Sure, act like you don't regret missing out," he drawled. The dog nin snickered again, thoroughly proud of himself.

Shino turned back to his miso ramen and tried not to sigh in exasperation. Sometimes it was an impossible task to communicate with such an obstinate person. The bug user looked at the small side dish Teuchi had graciously provided him with so he could set some of the noodles aside for his bugs to eat. As he watched the beetles cluster on the dish, he was grateful for the understanding attitude the stall owner showed. Most other owners of such establishments resented his clan's allies.

Kiba began giggling madly to himself as he adjusted his seat on his stool at the bar of the small ramen shop before noisily sucking down a chopstick load full of noodles.

Shino discretely noted where Ayame-san was in the small kitchen area to be sure she was out of earshot before whispering to Kiba, being careful to time his statement perfectly. "I fail to see the appeal of pilfering a young woman's undergarments."

Kiba choked on the inhaled, half masticated noodles and the bug user allowed himself to smile slightly, the expression concealed by his jacket collar.

"Geez, that is the most polite way I've ever heard anyone say 'panty raid'." Kiba furtively looked to the taciturn bug user, as Shino tried not to think about what the statement suggested. "Say it with me Shino," the brown haired nin said, before carefully enunciating each syllable, "pan-ty raid…"

"I'd rather not."

"Aw, come on!" the rambunctious chuunin chided. "You're acting like a stodgy old man!"

Shino stiffened at the insult, clenching his chopsticks in an indignant fist.

"I do not see why it should be considered an occasion to brag about when you steal a young woman's underwear. Furthermore, why do you think I wish to be regaled with an account of your dubious accomplishment when I rejected an offer to accompany you in the first place?"

"So you'll know what you missed when the rest of us all went out!" Kiba took another enthusiastic bite of his noodles while watching the slender Ayame, who was busily stacking bowls, out of the corner of his eye to ensure she couldn't overhear. "You know," he drawled turning his sharp eyes back to Shino, who was seriously considering ways to 'accidentally' knock Kiba's still steaming bowl of soup into his lap. It was distressing at times to be the only mature one in their friendship. "You would think that the Yamanaka's would keep a better look out at their home, especially since ol' Inoichi is so overprotective of Ino."

"You would know," Shino replied dryly, wondering if could somehow use the chopsticks currently held between his fingers to flip the bowl while convincingly maintaining the appearance of simple clumsiness.

"Tch. Yeah," Kiba replied, missing or ignoring Shino's sarcasm. "Hey, you want to know what color they are?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Can I get you anything else?" Ayame interrupted politely, looking innocently at the two shinobi who were guests in her family's small shop.

"No, thank you," Shino replied with equal politeness while Kiba coughed an acknowledgement into his soup, his unruly hair flopped down to obscure his eyes, somehow hiding his hysterical expression. Shino knew his teammate far too well to suppose he would actually blush at the interruption. That would suggest a sense of shame.

Ayame returned to her grey-haired father's side by the enormous vats of steaming soup and Kiba turned his mischievous expression back to Shino, who quickly changed the direction of the conversation as much as his stubborn teammate would allow.

"Why did you chose to target Ino? Did you not mention your group of raiders intended to invade the Nara compound?" Nara Shikamaru, who had graduated from the Academy the same year they did, had two female cousins two years older than they were.

Kiba snorted into his soup as though Shino had asked an obvious question, then coughed a few times from the renewed stress on throat. "Because I'm not stupid? Shikamaru can be freaky smart when he wants to be. Besides, one of my clansmen wanted to do it instead." Kiba's dark eyes brightened at a memory and he smirked slyly before leaning towards Shino. Shino wondered if a simple suiton jutsu might be the most efficient means dumping the steaming contents of the bowl on to his teammates source of motivation.

Whatever Shino was about to prevent Kiba from saying was halted for him by the appearance of a chuunin messenger who lifted the banners at the front of the small shop. Apparently, Kiba and he were about to be summoned.

"Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino?" the messenger, Kamizuki Izumo Shino recognized, asked to confirm their identities. His was attention focused on the large, hairy form of Akamaru who had been dozing just outside the stall in the midday sun.

"That is correct," Shino confirmed as both of the shop owners looked curiously at the new arrival.

"Hey! Izumo-san!" Kiba smiled wickedly and held up his bowl of ramen. "Wanna hang out?" Shino discretely rolled his eyes, knowing his opaque goggles safely hid the gesture. Kiba was as bad as Uzumaki at times.

"You need to immediately accompany me to the Hokage Tower," Izumo deflected the question. "You have been summoned by the Hokage-sama." Izumo had barely finished repeating the order before both the chuunin were on their feet and the large Akamaru was lumbering up and attentively watching Kiba for a command.

Inwardly, Shino could not help but feel mild annoyance. He had not wanted the ramen or the conversation and now he was forced to pay for a meal he could not even finish.

*****O*****

Generally, the austere, often detached and somber atmosphere of hospitals, to say nothing of the instruments or smells, made the location an unlikely one for a declaration of love and servitude, but that was just what Sakura found herself facing in the small clinic office.

"Sakura-san, I love you."

"I know you do."

"I'd do anything for you! Anything you want!"

"I know, I know," the young woman responded sympathetically, her sweet voice regretful, but firm. "But no matter what you say," she make eye contact with her bright green eyes as she held up the syringe, "I still have to give you your booster shot."

The preschooler's expression screwed up into a pout at being denied want he wanted, his small face bunching in on itself and his little eyes squinting in anger. The little boy looked defiantly up at the medic-nin from his seat on the padded stool in the small clinic room. The kunoichi decided to finish this before the little boy could throw the tantrum clearly building up.

"You won't be cleared to enter the academy if you don't get your shot," Sakura explained simply, being careful to use a neutral tone so no patronization could slip through to ignite the first screams of fit. "You want to be a big strong shinobi like your dad, right?"

The little boys face relaxed into reluctant acceptance, and he stuck out both his lip and his arm as he put his nose in the air. "Do it."

Sakura swiftly and efficiently administered the vaccine while the boy's mother, who had been waiting in the corner of the room visibly wilted in relief at a crisis averted. Fortunately, Ino had warned her ahead of time that her cousin's oldest boy had a notorious temper. The preschooler was already running his mother ragged according to Ino, who said even she went out of her way to get out of babysitting him. It said a lot that Ino would even bother warning her rather than seeing Sakura ambushed so she could laugh at the fall out.

"All done," Sakura said, giving the boy a winning smile that he returned with a poisonous glare.

"I know that!" he huffed indignantly as he pushed off the stool and landed with clatter on the clean swept floor of the hospital, his small shoulders hunched up in annoyance.

The boy was toddling over to his mother when there was a knock at that door to the small office.

"Haruno Sakura?" Sakura turned her attention to the opened door frame to see Tobitake Tonbo, a chuunin she had first meet when he was her examiner during her first attempt at the chuunin exams, standing politely with his face aimed in her direction. Out of ingrained habit, Sakura closely observed the lengths of clean white bandages he had snugly wrapped around his face and scalp under his hitai-ite, checking for any signs of discoloration or changes in shape.

Tobitake had become a regular patient of hers after her promotion to chuunin and following her passing of the grueling Konoha Village Medical Ninja Qualification Boards. It had been an honor in its own way to entrusted with a case as complicated and well known among the shinobi of the medical corps as Tobitake's. He was the only truly blind shinobi currently listed on the active rosters; although there were a few legally blind shinobi as well, they were limited to administrative tasks. The blunt-spoken chuunin had been a member of the Interrogation Squads during the greater part of his post genin career and had earned a reputation for unforgiving ruthlessness when he had been hit full force in the face by a devastating jutsu unlike any that had been previously documented in Konoha's medical archives.

The chakra used to cause the injury had been formed and manipulated in such a manner that not only did it result in a ghastly degloving injury of the entire upper portion of his face and top of his head, it had smashed the underlying chakra network in a manner normally only seen in injuries caused by members of Hyuuga clan during the application of the more extreme variations of Juuken. The medical reports composed at the time of initial treatment on the battlefields of the Earth Country and later in Konoha reported the chakra network suffered injuries similar to those seen in the cardiovascular network, rather than simple blocking or annihilating points or channels as normally seen. The swelling in his chakra network had caused injuries to his eyes not unlike the damage caused by Compartment Syndrome. After she had been assigned the case, Sakura had wanted to take the accumulated data and present it to the medical board to get the symptoms and their unique cause recognized as a unique condition. Chakra Specific Compartment Syndrome Sakura had decided to name it, rather than classifying it as a simple variant of a more common ailment. She had discovered, however, that in order go through with her ambition she would need the approval of the cases previous head physician, former Chief Medical Officer Yakushi. The poor man had been devastated by the betrayal and subsequent horrors committed by his adopted son, and Sakura couldn't bring herself to bother the broken man.

As a lingering result of the attack, Tobitake still suffered from occasional inflammation and pain in his ruined eyes and mangled face, something previously unheard of when it came to chakra network injuries and as of yet still unique to him. Fortunately, his work in the Interrogation field with Morino Ibiki and Ino's father Inoichi didn't require a sense of sight. He was even able to move about the village and practice basic self-defense without assistance.

Or perform small tasks like seeking her out for Tsunade-shishou, which she had a feeling was his purpose since he wasn't scheduled for an exam and appeared to be in perfect health.

"Tobitake-san?" she said aloud for the sake of politeness since he would be far more adept than most at tracking her chakra signature.

"Tsunade-sama requires your immediate presence in the her office. You are to report to her immediately."

"On my way," Sakura replied and the messenger disappeared from view as she began to gather her belongings. She was going to have to tell the floor supervisor about her summons so the nurse could find someone to replace her. Sakura suppressed a grimace at the thought of telling the short-tempered veteran of encounters with many flighty nurses of the development. Even though Sakura had no say in the matter, the resulting calls to find a doctor to cover for her were going to guarantee Sakura would have to listen to a rant about it later.

*****O*****

Arms and hands flowed gracefully through the air in fluid curves, the white sleeves adorning them fluttering slightly with the movements, each connection of limbs emitting a bright flash of chakra as short lived as the arc of shooting star in the still night sky.

Hyuuga Hiashi observed the spar from his kneeling position with keen analysis as Hinata and Neji executed their Juuken strikes in the traditionally decorated dojo in the Hyuuga compound. The spar today had an emphasis on perfection of stance and form rather than power, their chakra expulsions limited to the barest of impacts. Beside him, Hanabi watched the exchange with rapt interest, her pale eyes silently absorbing everything she could learn from her older sister and cousin.

Hinata had improved marvelously over the last few years. She lacked Neji's raw power and inherent talent with Juuken, but Hiashi had admitted to himself what was plainly obvious: prodigies like Neji would only happen once a generation, if that. Hanabi showed exceptional skill, but not even she could hope to catch up with her cousin.

Hinata deflected a forward strike from Neji and directed a strike of her own with fluid form towards Neji's exposed pressure points along the ribs...

...only to have the potential hit knocked away by his other hand while the one hand she had initially deflected curved around to strike at her face. Hinata deftly twisted her torso just enough to dodge the limits of his exuded chakra before twisting back into his follow up strike, using both hands: one to change the direction of his wrist, the other to lock his elbow.

The contrast in style between his older daughter and nephew had become greater over the years. As Hiashi had finally come to terms with some of the demons of his past, no longer attempting to guard his eldest from them, he had ceased trying to conform her to a mold she didn't fit while unknowingly forcing her to develop her own troubles.

His position as the head of one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha meant most of his fellow citizens and shinobi were too worried about attracting his ire to speak their minds to him if they found fault with anything he did or said, so it had been surprising indeed when he had been faced with a silently fuming Kurenai Yuuhi outside of his daughter's hospital room following her fight in the preliminaries of the third round of her first chuunin exam.

The usually cool-headed genjutsu specialist had bodily barred the door and made it very clear what she thought of the situation.

"Hiashi-sama, I'm afraid I cannot allow you to see Hinata at this time," Kurenai's words were perfectly polite, but her posture was just short of overtly hostile.

Hiashi was unruffled. "Kurenai-sensei, I admire your dedication to my daughter's well-being but the attending physicians have assured me she is stable enough to receive visitors."

"I am not speaking about her physical well-being. You are part of the cause of the severity of her injuries and for this reason I will not allow you access to her."

The black-haired, red-eyed jounin had the physical attributes and psychology background from her genjutsu training to be thoroughly intimidating, and she was clearly applying her skill to that end to the very limits of acceptable behavior. It was clear she was dedicated to maintaining her position, both figuratively and literally.

Hiashi suppressed the heated surge of anger he felt over the defiance and focused on why Kurenai would risk her health and reputation, and just what her words meant.

"Explain yourself, jounin."

Kurenai looked him directly in his eyes, something not all shinobi who were familiar with the Byakugan could manage. "Even after suffering severe internal injuries, Hinata did not step down from her match against Neji." She paused a moment to ensure he was truly listening, gauging his reaction. "She spoke to Neji, choosing words that suggested she felt sympathy for his position, knowing very well mentioning such a thing would push Neji into a murderous mindset."

Kurenai paused again, making sure Hiashi had a moment to digest this before finishing. "It is my duty as her sensei to look out for well-being. Currently, she believes she should die rather than be defeated by her cousin. I have never and would never suggest throwing her life away in an exam was acceptable. I can only assume she gleaned that idea from watching you."

Hiashi scowled deeply. This impertinent woman was overstepping her boundaries. "You dare…"

"Easily," she replied raising her voice. "If Hinata sees you now, she will be crushed by the shame." Kurenai never moved her gaze from his. "Stress will impede her recovery." That was enough to give Hiashi pause. "If you want her to recover, you will either not see her now, or make it unmistakably clear that you gave her the wrong message, and that she is not expected to kill herself during evaluations or be deemed a failure to be rejected in your eyes." The genjutsu user faced him unwaveringly, and her underlying message was clear.

You are hurting her, and I will not let you continue.

It was at that moment when he understood Kurenai saw him as threat on par with any foreign shinobi, while his daughter lay recuperating after a near fatal strike to her heart, that it finally sunk in. Kurenai was using the last defenses she had at her disposal to protect from Hinata from him. The revulsion he felt at his own actions made him dizzy. If it had come to this, how long had Kurenai been trying to help Hinata before and run out of options?

When he and Hizashi had been growing up, their clan was headed by their grandfather, a particularly demanding and ruthless man who had been honed in the fires of the Great Shinobi War. His harsh and unforgiving demeanor sought dispassionate perfection, expecting even the most domestic of activities to be carried out with a soldier's mentality. Such a cutthroat approach to life had been what had kept him alive and guaranteed his clan's prominence in a village founded by powerful rivals like the Senju and also harboring the like of the Uchiha clan.

Perhaps it was the coldness fostered among the majority of the members of his clan that had driven him to such as submissive and soft-spoken women as his wife Irori had been. The clan, as formed and developed by his grandfather, had merely seen Irori as appropriately demur and unobtrusive future lady, but her gentle spirit and quiet optimism were something he desperately needed to maintain his sanity.

Irori had been women of simple needs and complex emotions. She had been content to work in her garden, growing beautiful blossoms for Ikebana arrangements and herbs for healing ointments side by side. She was the first one to say yes to a request, not because she was weak (he knew as he had seen the few times she displayed her temper on behalf of others she had seen suffer an injustice), but because she was a natural peacemaker and doing as others wished as much as possible avoided friction.

It had been a deep psychological blow when the cancer had killed her, and he had, he hoped she forgave him, hidden from his pain by revisiting his emotionless upbringing.

Hinata had her mother's spirit that much was certain. In addition to the unique blue hair his wife had carefully combed every night, Hinata had inherited her love of simplicity and dislike of confrontation. Although these qualities were acceptable in a traditional wife, Hinata was intended to be clan head herself, not merely assist one. He had determined she would be crushed by the ruthlessness of clan and village politics if she didn't become harder, and he had sought to bring that out in her.

Constant work, harshness, and criticism had been meant to drive her on. It had worked on him when he was a child, and she was his daughter as much as his wife's, thus his approach followed perfect logic and precedent. Maybe that was why he failed so miserably. Cold logic had cost him his brother, now it was costing him his daughter. Even if he was successful in turning his daughters into what he had become, did he truly want that to happen Hinata and Hanabi?

Or Neji? He was far from unaware of how his brother's son already suffered. The boy had never had the opportunity to know his mother. The clan elders at the time had so violently disproved of the relationship between a simple servant girl and Hizashi that they had arranged to have her banished from Konoha flowing Neji's birth and was never spoken of. His father had then been killed in the following of clan traditions. His nephew, his brother's only son, would be severely damaged mentally if this pattern continued.

After his conversation with Kurenai at the hospital, Hiashi had considered change. But part of him still clung to the familiar if dysfunctional lessons of his upbringing. It was only after the public shaming that occurred during the third round of the chuunin exams in a stadium packed with influential politicians and merchants, with his nephew visibly scarred emotionally as much as physically, and his youngest daughter sitting beside him stoically, retreating into the mask she had been trained to wear since she could speak to hide her confusion and dismay, did he see just how desperately change was needed. He had spent many evenings in front of the simple shrine dedicated to his beloved Irori, arranged and adorned in a style he was sure she would have liked, looking at the photo of her serene face and calming eyes, asking her what he should do. It seemed she had found a way to answer him.

As for Hinata, at her heart she was peaceful like Irori, and nothing he attempted would change that. It now was painfully apparent he needed to work with that, not against it, for her to be healthy and find the strength she would need to succeed.

The process of change had been gradual, but he had been heart-breakingly relieved to see that altering or nullifying clan policies during the meetings had been meet with approval and even enthusiasm by the younger members of the council. The times of peace had been as much of influence on their mentalities and priorities as the war had effected the previous generation, and although the elders objected, they were thoroughly overruled. The palpable release of tension in the family had worked wonders over time. Encouraging Hinata to speak up when for so long everything she said had resulted in a biting remark or reprimand due to her stutter had surprised the girl, but she was becoming more forthcoming with her thoughts. One of the women in the clan had even been practicing with her to help her control her stutter while speaking in public forums.

Another twisting dodge from Hinata called Hiashi's attention back to her Juuken form. Despite Neji's natural talent, Hinata still had a more graceful approach than her male cousin. Now that he had stopped trying to push Hinata to master the more complex forms, Hiashi could see that when she was left to her own approach, Hinata excelled at cleverly using the basics in ways that tricked her opponent. He hadn't been aware of it, but Hinata and Hanabi had practiced in their room at night since they were very small, Hinata eager to play the part of the helpful big sister, and she had developed many variants on strikes to minimize the damage. Her ability to alter the strikes in such a way showed she had an inherent mastery of the theory, if not the practice. Such flexibility and innovation in her jutsu would be just as useful as more devastating techniques when properly applied, especially against enemy ninja familiar with Juuken. This open-mindedness would be quite helpful in politics as well, he realized. In peacetime, a good diplomat was more valuable then simple posturing and unyielding demand. Even in war, some leaders responded badly to that attitude. Tsunade-sama represented this philosophy rather well.

A polite voice coming through the paper and wood of the door caught Hiashi's attention.

"Hiashi-sama, I have a message from the Hokage-sama."

"Yamete."

Hinata and Neji halted their exercise, both panting softly and looking with curiosity towards the door as Hiashi called for the person on the other side of the barrier to enter. The shoji slid open with a whisper to reveal the distinctive dusty-bond hair of his clansmen, Kou. The chuunin was kneeling respectfully on the wooden deck outside the dojo and opened his mouth to speak.

"Pardon the interruption, Hiashi-sama. Neji-kun has been summoned to the Hokage Tower immediately."

"Understood. Neji." Hiashi directed his attention to his nephew. The youngest jounin in the Hyuuga clan bowed to his uncle before hurrying out the open door and past Kou who stood up to race with him through the streets of Konoha to the Tower.

Hiashi watched the pair depart before he turned back to his older daughter as her more petite sister stood up and joined her on the sparing mat so they could both look out the dojo door.

"Has to be a mission," Hanabi observed and the taller Hinata nodded in agreement.

Hiashi mentally frowned as he kept his facial expression neutral. None of his spies had noted unusual activity amongst the usual trouble spots.

He didn't like surprises.

*****O*****

Sakura made her way down the hallway in the Tower with long, purposeful strides, the gait rapidly eating up distance without actually evolving into an unprofessional run; not that she hadn't run across the rooftops to save time getting here. Her mind rapidly calculated through potential causes of the summons as she swiftly passed the numerous closed doors that lined the corridor and the bustling staff surrounding her. The mood of the employees was the typical air of business and occasional spike of urgency, but no more than usual and the most rushed and harried staff member was wholly focused on refilling an empty pot of coffee.

Nothing in whirl of directed activity, shuffling papers, or spoken messages being relied relayed gave any hint of abnormal events that would warrant a special meeting with Tsunade-shishou. Sakura rapidly passed over the wooden floorboards to arrive before the chuunin guarding the doorway. They were entirely a formality of course, and more likely to guard an over-enthusiastic shinobi from Tsunade-shishou than the other way around. Sakura pitied anybody foolish enough to barge in on Tsunade without a mind bogglingly good reason.

One of the stationed chuunin swung open the door for her without any exchange of words being necessary. The heavy wood barriers swung into the large, sunny room, and allowed her sharp hearing to catch the trailing words of a conversation. Shikamaru was here.

"… happier being here anyway. One of my cousins is wandering around the compound complaining about her laundry getting stolen off the line."

Sakura stepped in to the room and quickly assessed the situation. Two of the members of Team Kurenai were here. Aburame Shino was leaning unobtrusively against the wall, his entire body except for a small portion of his face hidden away behind dark goggles and a heavy hood and high collar. Inuzuka Kiba was standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and sporting the usual cocky posture she had become accustomed to associating with his silhouette. Across from him was Shikamaru; slouching and sporting the bored expression he was rarely without these days. His chuunin vest and standard issue Konoha uniform was far more professional looking than Kiba's leather jacket, but the impression was totally at odds with his typical attitude. The bright glow of the sunlight coming through the large windows reflected of the white tunic that Hyuuga Neji wore. Sakura turned to regard him briefly were he stood nearest to Tsunade-shishou's desk. Just behind him she could see Shizune, who was by far the greatest source of information.

Her dark-haired fellow disciple was standing just beside and behind Tsunade-shishou's chair, as she often did, but rather than standing empty-handed at attention or clutching a collection of important documents, Shizune had Ton Ton hugged against her chest, her arms wrapped snuggly around the pigs middle. Ton Ton's ears were drooping, and she was letting out barely audible grunts that she only made when she was picking up on distress.

"Ah, Sakura," Tsunade stated as her younger apprentice strode into the open, brightly illuminated office while the chuunin guards closed the door behind her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Sakura replied automatically, coming to stand stiffly at attention in the middle of the room facing the large desk as the other shinobi who were not regulars in the office came to attention in a line up beside her.

"At ease." Tsunade set up straight in her chair, her face set into a series of stern lines, her golden eyes intense in their focus. Sakura immediate felt the anxiety that had been building within her redouble.

"We have received an emergency request for help from Suna written in the Kazekage-sama's own hand. A personal plea." Tsunade held up a scroll the stunned Sakura recognized as one belonging to one of the cipher squads. "The mission is top secret and S-ranked, and every one of you four," Tsunade pointed to all of the ninja assembled before her excluding Shikamaru, "will be dispatched as a team following the details of this assignment. Understood?"

"Hai!" A chorus of acknowledgement answered the Hokage and Sakura immediately felt the curiosity that had first made itself known at the hospital surge forward. What was so important Gaara-san would write the message personally and yet the only response was a secretly dispatched cell of only moderately experienced chuunin?

Well, and one jounin.

"Suna has been afflicted with an unknown illness that is reaching epidemic proportions," Tsunade relayed grimly, and Sakura felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck prickle. "Attempts at identification and quarantine have failed. The Kazekage is seeking our aid to identify and cure this disease. Your mission will be to help in that endeavor by any means possible until the Kazekage releases your team from that obligation."

"What is the nature of this illness, Tsunade-shishou?" If they were going to face an outbreak severe enough to cause Gaara-san and Suna to take actions this drastic, she needed to know everything possible now.

"The dispatch contains limited information," Tsunade replied tersely, her voice deadly serious, "but it is clear it is fatal, infectious, and a complete mystery at his point. Their medical corps has run out of ideas."

While Sakura marveled at his revelation, Tsunade turned her attention to Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, for the time being, I am assigning you to this mission here as a consultant and advisor. I will expect you to be available whenever reports arrive from Suna to review them and provide your analysis and evaluation."

Sakura had worked with Shikamaru enough to anticipate yet still be impressed by the way his mood shifted when he was presented with a serious situation. His laissez-faire attitude was replaced by one of total drive and commitment. "Understood."

"Neji," Tsunade spoke to the dark-haired Hyuuga, "you will be the head of the squad for the duration of this mission. However," she interrupted him before he could acknowledge the order, "the medical aspect of the mission I leave entirely up to Sakura's discretion as a medic-nin."

"Hai!" came dual responses from the jounin and kunoichi. Tsunade seemed to measure her team with her golden eyes before opening her red lipstick lined mouth and delivering her next statement. "You will leave immediately for Suna. The dispatch from the Kazekage states they will be anticipating your arrival approximately 20 clicks northeast of the Deadman's Oasis. Take any supplies you deem are necessary. Dismissed!"

"Hai!" This time the entire team responded. Sakura turned her attention to Neji, noting that both Shino and Kiba had did so as well. Neji quickly issued his order.

"We will met at the South Gate in no more than half an hour."

"Hai!" Sakura turned her head to give one last nod to Tsunade-shishou and Shizune before she left. She needed to collect her supplies. She could ponder the ramifications of all she had heard while crossing the desert.

*****O*****

The brilliant blue sky high above the endless sea of sand of the desert was just as open and cloudless as it had been over the lush green forests that blanketed the rolling slopes among the volcanoes of the Fire Country. There, the densely packed leaves of the canopy, thick ferns and flowers of the undergrowth, and the thick trunks of the trees growing in the fertile volcanic soil themselves broke up the warm sunlight, resulting in a shifting pattern of dappled shade throughout the cool, moist air of the fiercely protected woodlands.

Here, the bright white sun reflected mercilessly off the pale grains of the desert, beat down with unwavering heat from above, and sapped the air of any lingering moisture. Furthermore, the sheer brightness of the environment it made utilizing his Byakugan almost painful.

Neji and his squad had paused at the edge of the dry shrub lands that gave away to true desert to organize how their party would move across the desert. The Deadman's Oasis was a perfect marker to use to cross the otherwise landmark devoid stretches of constantly shifting dunes. The Oasis itself was a notorious natural trap to the benefit of the shinobi of Suna. The waters were naturally toxic due to the high content of arsenic and other naturally occuring toxins in the underlying rock the spring water leeched through. Any unwanted visitor unlucky enough to get lost in the desert who stumbled across the poisonous pond would become food for vultures and jackals. Even the circling scavengers hovering in the air above the oasis could be used as a guide point.

Neji looked past where Sakura was efficiently leaping across the dunes, her red shirt and vibrant pink hair clearly visible, to where he could see Shino in the lead. He wondered if the light layers the bug user had changed into were more efficient at regulating body temperature than his own attire. Neji physically turned his head to look for Kiba rather than activate his Byakugan. Due to the large amount of dust kicked up by the bounding Akamaru, it had been determined that Kiba and the large canine should be the last in line. Sure enough, the cloud of fine grit thrown out by large paws was clearly visible against the empty blue of the horizon.

Neji turned his face forward again, squinting against the glare bouncing off the sand, and once more thought over the implications of the mission they had been dispatched on. No Hidden Village would voluntarily reveal their weakness to another shinobi group in this manner unless the risks presented by making such vulnerabilities known was not so great as the risk of maintaining their coveted secrecy. Neji subtly altered the flow of chakra trickling through the lower portions of his legs as he fine-tuned the flow to insure he didn't lose his footing on the unstable grains of the dunes during his considerations.

Neji could only conclude the situation in Suna would be desperate once they arrived. He and his team would need to be mentally prepared when they arrived, not only for the effects of the disease, which could be visually quite disturbing as far as they knew, but also for suspicion from the citizens themselves. Although he was certain most civilians would be grateful for the relief aid, paranoia ran deep among shinobi, it often kept them alive, and selfless philanthropy was not something practitioners of their trade where known for. His team would have to be both cautious and respectful during the course of their inquiries. This was likely one of the reasons why only a four-man cell was dispatched to deal with such a crisis. Another reason was in the Village's delicate situation; now was not a time to risk drawing attention to Suna with a large relief effort. Tsunade-sama must have taken that into account when choosing the team as well. It stung his pride slightly that one of the criteria he had to meet to be selected as the jounin captain of this squad was 'not noteworthy among our enemies and therefore easily overlooked'.

In the distance ahead, Shino raised an arm, signally the group to come to him. Neji felt extra chakra automatically move towards the unusual flexible branches of his chakra network flowing in around his eyes, a thoroughly ingrained and unthinking habit, ready to push forward in amounts great enough to allow the activation of the bloodline limit that was otherwise dormant. Shino stood at the top of a tall dune, his posture suggesting he was not facing a deemed threat, but still wary. Neji mentally regarded a map of the area and determined they were in approximately the zone were the Suna squads would be patrolling in anticipation of the rendezvous.

The young jounin forced a flow of chakra into the muscles of legs to speed his progress so that he came to a stop beside Sakura at the same time she reached the crest, arriving beside Shino just a moment before the sound of a heavy landing in the sand told him Kiba and Akamaru were there. Atop a rocky crag partly covered and obscured by a blanket flow of sand was what appeared to be a four-man squad of Suna shinobi. A quick examination of the informational input arriving in his brain from external senses gave no indication of it having been altered by the effects of a genjutsu. The shinobi uniforms of the nin, in the muted tones of dust and grit that dominated the desert landscape, appeared to be genuine issue from Suna. All except the uniform of one, which was a distantly familiar black suit topped by a cat-eared hood. A garb better suited for a theatrical puppeteer than a professional killer.

"Thank you for arriving so swiftly." Neji hadn't bothered to memorize the voice or face of the Suna shinobi when they had first encountered each other during the chuunin exam years ago; his mind had been thoroughly occupied, and perhaps obsessed, with other things. Yet what he did remember suggested that the politeness of the tone was slightly forced in a manner that did remind him of the manner of speech Kankuro had favored at that time. What he did not have any recollections of was the note of concern that colored the face-painted puppeteers words. His memories indicated Kankuro favored a "tough guy" image, more directly aggressive than what would be deemed appropriate for a shinobi. The vulnerability unintentionally revealed was therefore that much more worth noting. Either the nin standing opposite him had not cultivated a more favorable professional attitude, or the situation was critical enough to crack his control. Considering Kankuro had also passed his jounin exam, he concluded it was likely the latter.

"I am Kankuro of Suna. Gaara-sama asked me to personally escort all of you to the Village. Any formalities can wait until after we have arrived there. You'll be briefed in the Kazekage-sama's offices as soon as possible." Kankuro finished succinctly. Neji nodded once in agreement, his position standing slightly ahead of the rest of his team accurately conveying his status as the captain to his counterpart.

A moment passed, then ageless, unmoving rock, surrounded by the endless shifting sands, was one again alone under the endless emptiness of the sky.

*****O*****

The speed-generated breeze against her heated face brought a welcome brush of coolness as Sakura kept pace with the Suna squad and her own teammates as they sped with all available swiftness through the desert. The medic-nin had insisted her team periodically drink from the canteens they carried in their packs to prevent dehydration. The rapid evaporation of sweat in the dry air meant it was easy to lose more water than one realized before the first symptoms began to manifest. Nevertheless, vibrant, verdant eyes watched for signs of any weakness or fatigue in the movements of her teammates. She also stole glances at the Suna shinobi operating as their escort, but not for the same reasons. The indigenous shinobi of the desert would be far more wise about the climate than any studied foreigner. Instead, she attempted to detect any signs of weakness or illness that might start her accumulation of information regarding the unknown pathogen that was ravaging their allied Village.

The shinobi she could watch with the greatest ease moved with a steady, even pace over the blazing hot sands. There was nothing notable about his gait, or from her current distance, his breathing. He bore no visible signs of illness or distress.

The group made its way into a partly shaded valley between two shifting dunes, giving Sakura a moment to view a member of the Suna squad further ahead. She only had time to see him vault over to the top of the dune before he was again out of sight, but once more she saw no detectable abnormalities. A part of her dedicated to solving all presented problems grit it's teeth at being thwarted; she wanted information.

The collection of shinobi moved only as swiftly as was safely possible over the terrain; haste was fatal in the desert. The stretch of sand was soon slowly broken up by the appearance of larger grit, then broken pebbles and chips of stone, and then finally clusters of rocks harboring small swathes of genuine soil. The darker brown of the more readily packed dirt bore signs of trails and constant passage detectable to shinobi senses before the group leapt off a ridge of hardened granite and was greeted with the first sign of life. The pair of chuunin on patrol saluted Kankuro as he passed by, and openly evaluated the squad from Konoha as they sped past in sequence. They were evaluated in turn as Sakura took the time required to move past them to visually check them for signs of illness. Again, her attempt was not rewarded, as both presented an image of perfect health.

Sakura rounded a bend in the weaving of canyon of rocking they had been traveling through to see the towering gates of Suna. The doors, unlike the ones that hung between the gateposts in Konoha, were carved from solid stone and exceptionally imposing. The shinobi on duty as guards must have already recognized Kankuro, because the massive slabs were already slowly grinding inward, the sounds of a strained pulley system and gears barely audible even with the solid, smooth walls of the canyon providing a perfect surface for the production of echoes.

Kankuro, followed immediately by Neji, a contrast of black and white fabric Sakura's sense of sight couldn't help but note, streaked through the gateway and jumped up onto a nearby cast iron balcony, then continued up until they reached the top side of the unique spherical buildings of Suna. A burst of chakra sent Konoha's kunoichi after them.

Sakura's delicate nose reflexively wrinkled in disgust as her well-developed sense of smell brought the odors and stench of the afflicted city to her attention. Decay. A lot of it. She actively processed the different scents she could consciously name. Beneath the usual scents she would have expected in a metropolitan community with the culture and climate of Suna, spices for preserving and flavoring food, perfumes to help disguise body odor brought on by ceaseless heat, hints of body odor not successfully disguised, and the scent of heat from the burning of fires in kilns and outdoor ovens, there were traces, and even dominant smells of what shouldn't be in any healthy community. Beneath the scent of general decay, from rotting cloth to neglected living areas, there were underlying odors she knew to associate with gangrene and pus. Rot and infection were claiming victims. That didn't even cover the unholy smell of human flesh being roasted and charred in fires. The furnace of the crematorium wasn't burning hot enough.

Pink locks of hair danced back and forth in the open air as Sakura swung her head to and fro, looking for a place or person that was a direct source of the combination of scents that spoke of illness. The stone-paved alleys and roadways weaving through the city at ground level soon revealed a robed figure, curled in on itself in a bend in the street ahead, the convergence of buildings providing a natural wind break and shade.

Sakura came to a halt at the edge of the roof she was crossing and called out to the white streak of her squad leader leaping onto a sand dusted structure ahead of her.

"Neji! There's a victim in the alley way adjacent to me!" She saw her squad leader stop and turn back towards her. "I want to stop and see how he is!" She was assuming it was a he. The body was covered in too many layers to be certain. Kiba, who was being followed by Akamaru, came to a stop beside her and looked over the roof edge at the person in question.

"Not acceptable!" Kankuro had come to a stop as well at the far edge of the roof where Neji had stopped. "There are hundreds of people sick! We can't stop for every body dropped in the street or we'll never get to Gaara!"

The pragmatic rationale behind Kankuro's words and tone sent a chill down Sakura's spine. Suffering and death had become common enough to be prioritized and dismissed.

"Our medical staff has been researching this thing since the beginning!" Kankuro called out, seemingly aware of how simple pragmatism could not necessarily assure compliance in a compassionate heart. "The sooner we get to the Tower the sooner you can get to work! Let's go!"

It bothered Sakura as a soldier accustomed to obeying issued orders that she still hesitated before leaving the figure crumpled in the corner where he lay on the street. The healer in her was ashamed she left at all.

The scent of illness and rot permeating the village only intensified as the squads approached the Tower. Not only was the population density greater at the city center, the number of people who had congregated there in search of aid or support had further increased the amount of people cramming themselves into the tiny area. Sakura barely had to turn her head to see large numbers of people huddled in doorways or clustered together in the streets. The smell here was also tainted by the stench of human waste collecting in the open to be baked in the desert heat.

Sakura's mind quickly flicked through her studies of public health to consider just how critical the epidemic had gotten for public services to be failing this badly. The two teams landed lightly, except for the less agile Akamaru who skidded to a stop, on the balcony outside of the Tower.

A Suna shinobi was standing watch over the entryway. As Kankuro stepped forward to speak to him, the nagging sense of recognition Sakura felt identified him as Baki-san, who had been the Suna team's sensei. Sakura's mind automatically sifted through the distant cache of recollections of one of the most important days of her life to compare physical changes. He was definitely older, with the usual signs of premature aging that affected shinobi present, as far as she could tell from the half of his face that wasn't obscured by hanging cloth. An endlessly curious part of her mind couldn't help but wonder why he chose to wear the cloth of his head cover in such an impractical manner. Was he blind in his covered eye anyway?

"He's waiting for all of you. Go to the Southern section. Gaara-sama and Matsuri-kun should both be in there." The jounin's voice was rougher than what Sakura remembered. A consequence of the climate, or vocal strain?

That question was put aside as the three members of Kankuro's squad scattered back into the city while Kankuro himself lead the Konoha shinobi into the shady corridors of the Tower. Sakura couldn't help but note the similarities in layout with the Tower in her own Village; but, it was likely there were only so many logical ways to design and construct an administrative building. Of course, there was a slight repetition to the design not seen in Konoha in terms of decorating. The Tower in Konoha had been modeled after fortresses, and therefore was purposely designed not to give any invaders a clue about their location based on the construction in any given part of the Tower. However, peacetime in Konoha had lead to changes to make the Tower less monotonous. Suna kept to the old tradition, it would seem.

Kankuro stopped before an open doorframe, stood at attention, then made his presence known.

"Gaara, the squad from Konoha has arrived."

"Enter."

Sakura slipped through the door immediately after Neji into the conference room and took a look at Sabaku no Gaara for the first time since they had been genin. He was a pale as ever, a stark contrast to most of the other people of the city, and he was thin and somewhat short in a manner that suggested poor health. He had looked like this as a genin, and now that she had a better understanding of human physiology she had to assume it was the effect of the insomnia the Shukaku caused. She still remembered facing the half-transformed, near totally insane Gaara-san when Konoha had been attacked. She was glad she had missed the full version and infinitely grateful she did not have to carry something like that around in her own head.

She was pleased to note he was standing up straighter than when they had first interacted with each other; she took this is sign of his improving mental health. The circles around his eyes though were as disturbingly black as ever.

"Thank you for coming to Suna so swiftly." Gaara-san's voice was soft and even, but with a slight rasp to it. Much the same as it had been, but somewhat deeper than it had been before. Naturally. "Your names and ranks, please?"

"Hyuuga Neji, jounin, and captain of the squad." Neji's answer was as perfectly professional as ever Sakura noted. He had to be the most anal shinobi she had ever known when it came to decorum. "Haruno Sakura, chuunin medical ninja, and Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba with Akamaru. Chuunin."

Gaara's eyes, still oddly distant despite his improved demeanor, flicked to Shino and Kiba. "Reconnaissance specialists?" Shino and Kiba affirmed the conclusion. Those same eyes, hard like jade, then turned to Sakura. "You are the only medic-nin? The Hokage-sama's apprentice, are you not?"

Sakura nodded her head sharply to confirm what was probably at piece of information she should relay back to Tsunade-shishou. They needed to find out how Gaara obtained that information. Did Tsunade choose to put it in a dispatch she had sent ahead?

"And one of Naruto's special people as well." That statement genuinely surprised Sakura, and her attempts to gauge its nuances were blocked by Gaara's unreadable expression. She wondered if that was deliberate, or simply how he had become after so many years surviving half insane.

Gaara looked away from her, shifting his attention to indicate he was addressing the room in general.

"This room we are in now is the Southern Conference room. It has been allotted to you to be used as a center of operations. You will also be shown your own separate offices and personal quarters that include a study area to work." Sakura absently inspected the large, spacious room and it's new, expensive furniture. "I have issued a proclamation that you are to be allowed access to any information, persons, supplies, or locations you may require. Kankuro and I," the redhead looked towards his older brother, "as well as Baki-san who I am certain you encountered on the way in, will aid you personally if you require it. I also have a genin student, Matsuri, who will be your full time assistant and provide you with necessary documentation. She is fetching key records as we speak."

Despite the seriousness of the situation and her focus on the task at hand, Sakura couldn't help but marvel that not only was Gaara a Kage, but he had his own genin student. And Naruto was still a _genin_! Wait until he found out about all this. He was going to have _kittens_! She wanted to be the one to tell him. No wait! It would be better to let someone else tell him while she was there, then she could just enjoy his reaction.

"Haruno-san," Gaara turned his attention back to her. "I have asked the Chief Medical Officer to brief you on the specifics of the illness. Kankuro will escort you to the hospital." Gaara looked briefly at the middle sibling, "He said he would be with Temari."

"Got it." Kankuro looked to Sakura and jerked his cat-eared head towards the doorway.

"Baki and I will brief the rest of you in a more general manner. Following that, I will leave the rest of the operation to your own discretion." The Kazekage spoke to Neji, who nodded in agreement.

Sakura watched the last of the exchange before turning to follow Kankuro out the door, her distance behind him slightly greater than it had been behind her teammates due to the scroll stretched across his back.

So Temari-san was coordinating the information between the Tower and the hospital. That was good. Sakura couldn't help but think as she trailed behind Kankuro through the maze of stone hallways, she was going to need all the help she could get.

*****O*****

There were people everywhere. The main entry was crowded with bodies, some of whom had disturbingly faint heartbeats when Sakura listened for them as she passed by. The densely packed group looked over the new comer walking with Kankuro curiously, noting her foreign hitai-ite.

"A Konoha kunoichi."

"Do you think she's a doctor? She looks awfully young for that."

"Did the Kazekage-sama send for help finally? How did he finally get past the council? Did he threaten them?"

"Who cares if he did?"

"They can all die for all I care."

"What if she can't help?"

"You don't think they're planning to send us to Konoha, do you? My sister-in-law works in the house of spice merchant as a maid and she said he wanted to just throw us into the desert."

"The Hokage-sama is a medic-nin who used to face Chiyo-baa-sama. If one of her people can't fix this, who can?"

Whispers, mutterings, and fading hope drifted through the crowd as it parted for the two shinobi. Kankuro led the way to an open section in the ceiling to reveal a circular observational balcony.

"We'll jump up," he explained, "it'll be faster."

Over the ornate railings of the balcony were still more people simply waiting. Sakura trailed behind her guide until they came to a room with chuunin guard in one of the more isolated wings. The medic-nin noted none of the victims or staff she had seen were wearing any protective garments or gear. Did they not know how it was transmitted, or were preventative measures ineffective?

The chuunin at the door saluted before stepping aside and opening the door. Kankuro passed through ahead of her, and as his taller frame moved aside, she could see an unfamiliar man in a doctor's uniform.

She could also see Temari. Her mouth fell open in shocked horror.

"Temari-san!"

* * *

AN: Now I know why others who write longer pieces often post smaller pieces in the mean time. How draining this is.

Anyway, things move along. I promise we won't stay in character development mode next chapter. Things will begin moving faster.

All the minor characters I've mentioned so far except one are cannon so if you don't recognize the names, you can look them up to see about whom I'm writing (read: totally hijacking). The exception is Irori, Hinata's mother. Her name means 'hearth'.

Compartment Syndrome and degloving injuries are both real as well.

And as always...

Review if you like it!


	3. Manifestation and Distemper

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 3

_The chuunin at the door saluted before stepping aside and opening the door. Kankuro passed through ahead of her, and as his taller frame moved aside, she could see a man in a doctor's uniform._

_She could also see Temari. Her mouth fell open in shocked horror._

_"Temari-san!"_

Green eyes, wide open in stunned distress, meet a rich blue that, upon seeing the Konoha shinobi's expression, glinted with teasing wit.

"Wow, Sakura-san, you look like you've seen a ghost."

The jounin greeted the shocked medic with a wry grin to match her statement; the jaunty expression only slightly marred by a faint hint of weariness. Suna's most renowned tessenjutsu expert was wearing a pale medical gown topped by a robe and was seated on the edge of her hospital bed. Standing next to her was a man in the uniform of a Suna medic nin who Temari had clearly been conversing with.

Both were staring at her.

It took Sakura's stunned mind a moment to process just how stupid she must look standing there with her mouth gaping open. She quickly blinked and closed her jaw. She strode forward across the open floor of the hospital room and stood before her fellow kunoichi.

"I apologize Temari-san," she quickly said with a shallow bow, "I had not been told you were a patient."

"Oh?" Temari replied with an arched eyebrow, frowning slightly. She peered around the embarrassed Sakura to fix a suspicious look on her middle brother who had came to stand beside the teenage medic, and who was not bothering to feign innocence. Temari narrowed her eyes.

"You set her up, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Kankuro smiled smugly, before he snickered.

Temari scoffed lightly at her brother's immature behavior, before returning her attention to a moderately puzzled Sakura.

"I'm sorry you weren't properly informed. I didn't mean to embarrass you." Temari's smile was a mixture of proper diplomacy and a touch of sincere chagrin.

"Oh, don't worry," the younger woman replied with a shaky, self-conscious grin, whipping her pink-haired head back and forth and waving her gloved hand dismissively as Temari shot one more critical glare at her younger brother before turning to the doctor standing wordlessly at the foot of the bed to exchange a look.

"Sakura-san, I would like you to meet the doctor in charge of the medical investigation of the illness." Temari gestured towards the tall man next to her. "This is Tetsubin-sensei, Chief Medical Officer and Head of the Shinobi Medical Corps." The man bowed smoothly and Sakura returned the formal greeting as Temari continued the introduction. "He and I have been working together in cooperation with the Social Services and Public Health Departments to try and discover the source of and cure for this illness."

Tetsubin-sensei was a middle-aged man with the typical olive skin and dark hair of the people of the desert. His build and shape was indicative of the physical fitness one would expect in a career shinobi.

"We received word from Kankuro-sama's intercept squad of who made up the team from Konoha." Tetsubin-sensei spoke with the personable manner of someone used to dealing with people. "I have heard something of your expertise from correspondences with my colleagues in Konoha."

"Really?" Sakura replied, trying fiercely to hide her surprise and maintain face. "I hope I live up to any expectations you may have," she finished as evenly as possible. Professional correspondence? That explained why Gaara knew of her medic training. She wondered to what extent such correspondence was allowed between shinobi from differing villages. The amount of time she spent in the Konoha hospital was practically none compared to the time allotted to her training and missions in the field and she hadn't had time to pick up on all the activities of the medic nin permanently assigned there. After all, she wanted to be out facing the threats on the front lines, not waiting around for word of fallen friends in a distant clinic.

The brief introduction over, Sakura pivoted in place slightly to address Temari, who remained seated on the bed. "How long have you been sick?"

The mood shifted abruptly with her simple question. The line of Temari's friendly grin shifted into professional neutrality. "My initial symptoms appeared yesterday night."

"How did you contract the illness?"

"Unknown," Temari replied with a shake of her head, causing her sandy bangs to sweep over her hitai-ite. The tenseness that seeped into Temari's features suggested frustration. "Despite our investigations we still don't even know the mode of transmission. We have ruled out the possibilities of it being airborne or blood borne. All other avenues of infection are still open."

"We have developed a treatment regimen that slows the progression of symptoms," Tetsubin-sensei explained, with a tilt of his head to indicate Temari was an example of successful treatment, "but none of our attempts at a cure have been effective."

Sakura nodded to show she understood. "Please, if you would, tell me everything, starting at the beginning."

*****O*****

"The first reports of infection came in approximately two months ago," Gaara rasped to the group of Konoha shinobi remaining in the conference room, his voice bearing the strain of unceasing insomnia. "The initial victims were young children and the elderly in an area that consists of government sponsored housing. The disease did not appear to be potentially fatal or virulent in the early reports. There was also no connection between the victims aside from a common location. With time as more people contracted the illness, the disease appeared to increase in its aggressiveness." The Kazekage paused a moment to allow the information to sink in for his carefully listening audience. He continued, "By the time shinobi began displaying symptoms, the illness progressed rapidly and led to increasing fatalities rates."

Kiba felt a little green as he considered what the eerily composed Kazekage reported. Man, was he glad Shino was here, and despite the reliable presence of Akamaru seated beside him, he found himself wishing Hinata had come along on this mission.

Although he possessed the memory and analytical ability a shinobi needed to survive, both Shino and Hinata were better at recalling individual facts, and Hinata had a great mind for detail and he was sure they were going to need one. He supposed this had something to do with her exceptionally sharp Byakugan that let her see farther and in greater detail than even Neji; not that many people knew of just how much better she was since she was so shy and soft-spoken.

When he had first been assigned to the same genin team as Hinata, he had assumed it was her shyness that kept her from setting up the plans herself and resulted in her preferring to defer to Shino, even hesitating a little to point out potential flaws in her teammates suggestions. Eventually though, as he tried to tease her into speaking up (worked on his sister after all, although in Hana's case 'speaking up', meant 'attempting to maim him') he came to figure out Hinata was one of the most gentle and peaceful people he had ever even heard of. She could not bring herself to the degree of dispassionate ruthlessness that was needed to deliberately orchestrate the death of another person, murderous enemy or not.

When he figured this out, he suggested during training one day when they were still genin that Hinata become a medic or even a veterinarian like his sister. After all, she clearly liked studying remedies and plants and had a detailed knowledge of pharmaceutical herbs and made great healing balms. She had the right disposition for it, too.

He had been surprised when instead of reacting positively to the idea, she had flushed in shame and hung her head so that her blue-tinged hair hid her face.

"That would not be appropriate, Kiba-kun," she had whispered so quietly he almost couldn't hear her, and she wouldn't say anything else about it. He had found out offhand later that because the primary role of a medic nin was not a combat role, the Hyuuga clan looked down on the specialization and considered it unfit for the Main Branch, let alone the heir.

That was such bullcrap. What the heck were they smoking over there anyway?

"Kazekage-sama," Neji started formally, bringing Kiba out of his reverie, "all of you have been referring to this disease by the broad terms rather than by a specific name. Have you made any connections to any known ailments so a more descriptive designation can be assigned?"

Gaara took a moment to close his eyes wearily. Kiba was mildly surprised at the very human gesture from someone he had seen almost casually crush alive a helpless opponent begging for mercy when just a genin.

"We have not made any connections to known diseases or syndromes. The illness causes a fever like that of a bacterial infection, but the rapidity of the disease's evolution suggests a virus."

Kiba noticed the deceptively easy going posture usually adopted by Shino stiffen. "Are you informing us that the scientific teams have not yet identified the mode of transmission?"

Gaara, standing in the pristine robes of the Kazekage, looked unflinchingly at the three traveled stained shinobi. "Yes." He continued before Kiba's mind had time to quit spinning. "But, we have narrowed down potential means. Our medical and scientific teams are certain it is not airborne nor is it blood borne."

"Have you determined which fluids or tissues harbor the pathogen?" Shino continued tersely. The fact that his body was a living hive full of symbiotic insects continuously making tunnels through his flesh meant he knew more than most shinobi about the finer points of human anatomy and physiology.

Gaara flicked his freaky eyes towards Shino directly for the first time. "We have not isolated the pathogen, or any toxins or poisons, nor noted any changes in normal activity in the body to provide us with even indirect information. The illness is completely enigmatic."

And suddenly the novelty of being tapped for such an important mission wore off for Inuzuka Kiba. Despite the information in the briefing they had received before dismissal, he didn't think the situation would be this bad.

The moment was dispelled when a high-pitched girl's voice came from the doorway behind them. "Gaara-sama, may I come in?"

The red head nodded his affirmation and Kiba turned his head to see a young ninja coming through the open door, largely obscured by the pile of boxes she was carrying. As she wove her way to her Kazekage's side and deposited her cargo on the large table, Kiba noted the kunoichi wore her Suna hitai-ite around her neck in the same manner Hinata did. Judging by her height and build, he'd say she was about 13 years old, a genin about ready to attend the chuunin exams.

"This is my student, Matsuri," Gaara introduced the willowy kunoichi as she turned towards the Konoha squad and bowed respectfully, her short brown hair flapping slightly around her face as she did so. "She will be assisting you in whatever ways you may require and will act in my stead in any situation where I may be needed but cannot attend personally."

Kiba could not help but feel replacing Sabaku no Gaara with Matsuri was like replacing a massive, roaring lion with a tiny, adorable kitten. One adorned with a crocheted baby pink bow and named Twinkles.

The genin student looked to her Kazekage for a moment to be sure he was finished before addressing her audience herself. "I'm glad that you all have come. I hope my assistance is satisfactory." The short kunoichi put one hand on the pile of boxes next to her and her other on her hip. "I have gathered all of the materials and references that you should need, but if anything is missing I will go and retrieve for it you."

Well, Matsuri seemed to be a real go-getter and, unlike certain people on this mission, also possess a sense of humor. If she actually knows what she's doing it might not be all bad.

Neji answered Matsuri with a succinct nod before returning his attention to Gaara. "We would like to begin our contribution to your Village's investigations as soon as possible. When would it be permissible for us to begin?"

Thank _kami_ Matsuri seemed to have a sense of humor.

"Whenever you are ready," Gaara replied. "Would you like to wait for Haruno-san to return from the hospital before you set your agenda?"

"Not necessary," Neji answered. "Sakura-san will most certainly focus on investigations conducted by the medical teams at the hospital and spend a significant amount of time in conference there. It would be better to work independently and then coordinate at the end of day."

The Kazekage did not respond with words, but turned his head to look at Matsuri. The young kunoichi correctly interpreted the silent communication and took over.

"How do you want to begin?" she asked, her attention focused on the stoic Hyuuga. Kiba supposed another Suna shinobi had already told her who the Captain of their squad was.

"Take us to the initial point of outbreak," Neji told her. "We would like the opportunity to investigate the location for ourselves."

"Alright," she said brightly, and then she winced slightly as she realized how casual her choice of words was. Kiba kept his snicker at her expense on the inside. _Heh._

Matsuri opened up one of the boxes and began flipping through files until she pulled out a selection of blueprints. "I have the annotated maps of the complexes here," she said enthusiastically, "and there are headsets in the cabinets in the side room that we can use to communicate so we can cover multiple floors at once." She paused as she walked swiftly towards the door of the room she had mentioned, and turned back to look wide-eyed at Neji. "You do want to cover multiple rooms at once, right?"

_Heh heh heh heh…_

*****O*****

Sakura listened intently as she was given a detailed tour of the clean, well-organized forensic labs in the hospital by Tetsubin-sensei. The analytical instruments and lab supplies were high quality, well maintained, and many were new. She couldn't help but admire how much dedication and focus was being displayed by everyone from the lab supervisor to the various techs and maintenance personal. Tetsubin-sensei told her Temari-san had taken it upon herself to update and improve the facilities at Suna's hospital personally. The hospital had suffered from budget cuts in recent years and Temari-san's diplomatic missions to other Village's had brought this sharply to her attention. She had even set up a series of greenhouses specifically for providing fresh plant materials for medicinal purposes, but they were not yet completed.

The tough-minded blonde had remained in her hospital room. Basic bed rest was as effective at battling the illness as any more technologically advanced therapy. Although, Sakura was sure being relatively idle was worse for the driven and dedicated kunoichi than being in severe pain.

Sakura's mind was busy rapidly sorting, analyzing, classifying and filing away facts and data even as she carefully listened to Tetsubin-sensei's calm explanations. The sheer gravity of just how improbable the illness was heating her blood.

A bacterium? No. Virus? No. Parasite? Spore? Fungi? Prion? No. No. No and _no_. There were no environmental connections detectable either. No heavy metals. No deficiencies or toxically high levels of essential minerals. Absolutely nothing abnormal or out of the ordinary in any water sources, food sources, or other necessity or luxury tested; and that meant all of them.

Most frustratingly puzzling of all was that there was no sign of a pathogen in even one of the infected! _None!_ No matter what kind or how many or when samples were taken, no matter how they were analyzed, nothing was found. Not even a hint was found. No secondary evidence was available either: no protein products, no immune cell responses, and no change in metabolic products or activity. The people simply wasted away…_ for no explainable reason!_

She reconsidered what she had learned earlier while talking with Temari-san.

"The initial symptoms include the onset of a fever, and an unidentifiable toxicity that is very similar to systemic infections, and even osteomyelitis," Temari detailed, with Tetsubin-sensei standing beside her with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, listening carefully and nodding along. "The ultimate cause of death is massive organ failure in the victims."

"How many victims succumb to gangrene or blood loss?" Sakura asked. If the victims have massive infections in their blood, the damage to the extremities should result in necrosis and necessitate amputations starting with the hands and feet. The potential number of people who may survive but be permanently disabled was heartbreaking.

"None," Tetsubin-sensei, a note of sympathy in his voice.

Sakura responded with a disbelieving expression. _Not possible!_ "How so?"

"We don't know," Temari said with a sigh. "We had a girl with a withered arm, a woman with partially healed burns, and a man who had his arm crushed in an industrial accident. None of them had any sign of accelerated deterioration in the compromised tissues."

Sakura dug through the vast medical knowledge her intense medic nin training under Tsunade-shishou had beaten into her. Nothing about this illness was expected or had any precedent she or any of the medical staff at Suna had ever encountered. People do not simply become ill and waste away without explanation. Something, somehow, was draining the life out of people by causing the body to simply fail and fall apart.

Without any new medical explanations open, Sakura had asked about the remote, laughably remote actually, possibility of the illness being a new form of attack.

"Temari-san," she asked, "is there any way this could be a well executed jutsu not previously seen? I know the amount of chakra required would be virtually impossible to collect, let alone direct and then fine tune into an attack, but is there even a slight possibility since we haven't uncovered the source?"

Temari took a moment to consider before shaking her head in denial. "You're right about needing to explore all options. We looked into the possibility, and even if there were such a jutsu, it would be physically impossible to execute such a jutsu unless it was at close range." The sandy blonde tilted her head towards one robed shoulder as she considered while she spoke. "Our patrols scoured every potential hiding place and monitored the desert for any unidentified movements. They didn't find or sense anything at all that was even suspicious." Temari flicked her sharp blue eyes back to Sakura's attentive expression. "Whatever it is, it's not a jutsu."

Sakura was certain if there were any enemy activity near Sunakagure no Sato it would have been uncovered and crushed by the Suna shinobi. If there were a jutsu capable of mimicking illness, such an enterprise would need more than just a single shinobi. In fact, she speculated that such an endeavor would require multiple squads at least. There simply was no way to channel and mold chakra in the way necessary, let alone in the amounts necessary, without a lot of contributed manpower. Suna's patrols would never let that many shinobi escape their notice on the edge of their very home.

Which brought her right back to square one. What could cause an illness that couldn't be detected? No wonder the people of the desert city had such a pervasive air of despair.

It hung the air like the reek of a decaying corpse. The people huddled in the hospital hallways, collapsed in the streets, sitting along side they dead being flung into ditches. There was so little hope, so little to offer them.

The lack of answers was really beginning to piss her off.

She hadn't dedicated her life to protecting her precious people just to be completely stonewalled on her first real mission, especially one that potentially threatened Gaara. There was no way she could ever face Naruto again if she didn't protect him.

Even as the teenage medic continued to calmly listen and absorb the wealth of background and instructions coming from Tetsubin-sensei as they trekked through the lab, her blood began to boil with seething indignation and a burning determination that had numerous plans assembling themselves almost autonomously in her mind. Lists of requirements for further research and first hand investigations began to place themselves into an orderly agenda in her mind.

There was absolutely _no way_ she was backing down from this! This mystery illness wouldn't know what hit it.

*****O*****

Neji and his squad stood outside the towers of the apartment complexes that were at the outskirts of the city, pressed close to the rising wall of grainy rock that topped even the highest of the rises, creating a sense of cramped claustrophobia and one of subtle vertigo all at once. The buildings had the distinct air of purely utilitarian design and materials, designed for maximum efficiency in construction at the lowest economic cost. In seeming rebellion against the unadorned, featureless exterior, a few withering flowerpots created fading splashes of color in the blank façade.

The sun setting behind them allowed the Konoha and Suna shinobi standing in the complex's shadows to view the series of coldly erected apartments without having to squint against the glare of the desert sun. Matsuri had informed them during the trip over that although buildings had the official name of the Immigrant Assistant Housing District, the collections was usually referred to by the citizenry as the 'Old Tenements', or simply as the OT.

"This series of buildings was put up during the Great War as emergency housing for the large numbers of refugees Suna was taking in at the time," Matsuri informed the group standing on the deserted, sandy street as Neji and his squad carefully scanned the building exteriors. "They are very basic as a consequence, but on the plus side that makes them easier to investigate. Most of the people who were refugees moved out as the city became more accepting, and it's a mix of low-income families here now.

"The easternmost building is the one where the first victims were identified," She pointed with a slim hand towards a building with the number 2A inscribed beside the main entryway. "The illness first presented itself in a collection of people scattered throughout the building. They were young children and the elderly at first, people with vulnerable immune systems." She shrugged. "The number of victims increased in the building and new cases appeared in the surrounding complexes. This happened rapidly over the period of a couple of days, but at the time the symptoms were so mild most people didn't even bother to report being sick, so the cases weren't initially documented as they appeared. Eventually though, even healthy adults begin getting sick."

Turning slightly to point with a slender finger at a small construct in a miniature plaza of paving stones located in close proximity to the rocky canyon walls, she continued. "Over here is the well the inhabitants of the apartments use. It's one of the few left in Suna. This particular well is connected to an underground river that has it's origins in the snow melts from the Earth Country. It's not the steadiest source of water, so a series of tunnels were built to connect to an aquifer in the far south of our country instead. That's the source for the rest of the village."

Matsuri paused and turned in the narrow street to face the group she was the acting guide for. "We were pretty sure it was the water at first and evacuated the OT, because that was the only thing all the cases had in common aside from living in the buildings themselves and was completely different from the people who weren't sick in the other parts of the village. But new cases kept coming, and we could not be definitively sure they were just from contact with those already ill because of how swiftly the new cases came."

Matsuri looked with large and eager eyes towards an expressionless Neji. "Since the investigated started at the well, do you want to start there, Neji-taichou?"

Neji considered Matsuri-kun's suggestion as he filed away the information she had provided during her exposition and organized in his mind inquiries for a later time. Seemingly, the only connection between those originally infected was the common water supply. He would anticipate any other connections to have been noted, vigorously explored, and provided for his team to analyze as well. To account for the possibility this was not so, he would assign his team review the provided information as well to search for any overlooked correlations between cases.

"We will begin at the well," Neji replied in confirmation. He returned Matsuri-kun's look and he observed she did not completely suppress her flinch at being viewed by someone possessing featureless white eyes. Not an uncommon reaction in those unaccustomed to the appearance of the dormant state of the Byakugan.

Matsuri nodded sharply and set out for the well at a brisk trot, slightly swifter than was strictly necessary.

The well was an unimpressive structure, utilitarian, devoid of the embellishments decorating the wells in the courtyards of affluent manors and the significant ornamentation observable on wells in the gardens of temples and shrines. It did not even feature the modern equipment associated with most wells still maintained as a practical water source.

He believed this area of Suna could be accurately described as 'underserved', a natural location for the source of an outbreak.

If only that logic alone provided the explanation.

*****O*****

Kankuro's austere office was located adjacent to the one belonging to the Kazekage. The black swathed puppeteer was rarely in the small, converted study, not only because he was far more likely to be out on patrol or a mission, but also because he really hated dealing with scrawny little punks sent to bother him by rich merchants like the one he was putting up with now.

The messenger standing in front of his small desk who had been dispatched by one of the wannabe nobility was not quite looking down his greasy nose at Kankuro as he relayed his message. Kankuro was seated in his chair and only halfway listening to the brat drone on, most of his mind was cheerily imagining various ways to brutally pound some sense into the impertinent, shiny-faced runt.

_I could bring out Kuroari and shove him in the barrel, all I need is one false move from him, not that he'd have the guts._

"… is sure you remain aware of how delicate this situation is politically…"

_I probably couldn't convince anyone it was an accident either. Oh, well. I could just choke him stupid, put my hands around that scrawny neck and **squeeze**._

"… do not want to risk the undesirable creation of conflict, and wants to remind you of the diplomatic potentialities…"

_He might struggle and claw like a girl though -better never say **that** aloud in front of Temari- maybe I should just punch his face through the back of his head._

"When will I be provided with the appropriate certifications?" the messenger finished in his condescending tone.

Kankuro smiled closed lipped, eyes narrowed to slits, as he imagined planting his large fist right in the middle of guy's pasty face.

The Village Council was the biggest assembly of hypocrites in all the Five Countries. While beating the idiot messenger brainless might be cathartic and something he probably deserved anyway, it wouldn't address the root of the problem. The Council might claim that they were in favor of a progressive form of government, but that only extended as far as how they could make money off of the changes.

Following the disaster of participating in the alliance with Sound, the assassination of their father and the large numbers of shinobi lost had thrown the entirety of Wind Country into a chaos even worse than what followed the disappearance of their grandfather, the previous Kazekage. The Village Council scrambled to set up emergency policies to prevent panic and, for the first time in a while, the daimyo seemed to have a moment of clarity and realize deliberately weakening his country's defensive forces might actually be endangering him more than aiding him.

Most amazing of all were the changes in his little brother.

Following his defeat at the hands of the Konoha jinchuuriki, Gaara had seemed to withdraw into himself to reflect on what happened. Gaara had always been moody and distant for almost all of Kankuro's memory of him, sure, but this time, some of the tension and violence had seeped out of him. Gaara could be found resting on the windowsill in their personal quarters, calmly watching the people pass by on the streets below.

Gaara had keenly observed the movements of others for as long as he was aware people hated him and wanted him dead, but now, it was as though he was trying to understand something he had missed. He would almost sorrowfully watch mothers and children walking side by side eating dango, or brothers and sisters trying to patch up kites together. Some weeks later, Gaara had surprised both him and Temari with a request neither had ever heard before.

The three of them had been leaving the Tower, a place they could continue to call home until the new Kazekage was determined, to begin their day debating the future of Suna with the Council when Temari had given him one of the small hugs she always did before they left for the day. It was a ritual they had had together for as long as he could remember. Temari told him she had very brief memories of their mother giving her hugs before she left for the day, and their Uncle Yashamaru had continued giving them hugs until their father forbade the gesture of affection. Temari had taken up hugging Kankuro when no one was looking as a childish form of rebellion at first. At their current place in life, it was one of the few things that reminded them they were people with family despite the things they sometimes did for a living.

Their small family was standing in the small entryway of their tidy personal apartments and Temari had just withdrawn her arms from his shoulders when Gaara spoke.

"Temari," he said softly, looking up at his older sister though his head was lowered in the subconsciously submissive position that was his usual posture.

Temari turned her face to look inquiringly at her other brother. "Yeah, Gaara?"

Gaara hesitated a moment, his eyes flicked to the floor and back before he said in an even softer voice, "May I also have a hug?"

Temari blinked and Kankuro simply stared dumbly.

"Uh, sure Gaara," Temari replied uncertainly. She stepped lightly back over to her youngest brother, and carefully placed her arms around his slender shoulders and hugged him close. Gaara didn't return the embrace, but he did lean into his taller sister and close his eyes, which was a momentous occurrence all by itself.

Not long after that, Kankuro had discovered his little brother serenely observing the sunrise from a rooftop at the edge of the Village, and it was then Gaara revealed to him his honest aspiration to be the new Kage. Gaara's new resolve, as well as his desire to defend the people he had been hated by to earn their respect and recognition, shocked Kankuro, and forced him realize just how much of an impact his failed battle in the Konoha forests had made.

After years of isolation and despair, a villain shunned and despised, Gaara had been given a new reason to exist and a new way to view people. The people of his Village in turn also had a new way to view Gaara. He was no longer the indestructible monster or the invincible weapon. He was not merely a construct of their fears and paranoia.

The citizenry also had new dangers and threats to worry about. For the first time, people moved past Gaara without displaying single-minded fear, and some even looked, from a distance given, at him thoughtfully, trying to decide anew how to think of him.

Kankuro also found himself seeing Gaara differently. As shinobi and children of the Kazekage, they had all been raised to be weapons from the day they were old enough to hold kunai. Only Temari, who could still remember their mother and had been raised by the only nurse who had been appointed by their mother, had a real grasp of her siblings as people to care for beyond the necessity of defending teammates.

After a conference with Baki-sensei to be sure they understood all the ins and outs of the Village Charter, Gaara had announced to the Council he intended to become Kazekage. The Council was less than thrilled by this idea. Gaara then stated that if anyone in the Village believed him to be too weak to be the Kage, they were welcome to test his strength personally. All objections promptly ceased.

Upon becoming Kazekage, Gaara had reversed many of the suffocating economic policies their father had put in place to control the elite of Suna to help in the Village's re-stabilization. The city could not hope to be fully stable again until there was a steady monetary flow. The Council of course had been more than happy to vote those motions passed, but they argued against measures to revise tax laws and labor laws, citing the Kazekage did not have the authority.

Suna might have the appearance of a democracy, but in truth it was an oligarchy, a very exclusive one.

Of course, while the Council might carefully patch any cracks in the façade they had put up to suggest they were in favor of maintaining traditions developed to protect fairness and justice, they were definitely not above mocking Kankuro's personal decision to wear the face paint the tribe his ancestors were from had worn before the building of the Village. Traditional costume of this type was something almost as unforgivable as monetary reform. It was 'tacky'.

Many of the upper crust in Suna dedicated substantial portions of their bloated income to keep up with the latest fashion trends, and badly advised rumors thereof, coming in from other nations. The idea that Kankuro completely ignored fashion yet was seen by visitors to the city was deeply offensive to the merchants' sensibilities. He was also certain that wearing the traditional face paint of one of the most prosperous tribes of the desert, one that did not participate in the other tribes xenophobia but actively traded with the Fire Country, including obtaining the wood for the puppets they used in their version of the distinctive jutsu, irked the merchants by reminding them his family was more prestigious than theirs even now.

It made him happy to know that he aggravated people he didn't like just by being himself.

"I'm sorry," he said to the punk who'd been sent to get information on the Konoha shinobi who had come as allies. The Council members particularly, the merchants, could not wait to meddle. This one was a minion of a spice merchant if the overpowering smell of curry wafting off his fancy uniform was any indication. That guy was usually complaining about bandits targeting his caravans in the north.

"In order to get any potentially classified information, you have to submit your request through the proper channels. It would be against regulations for me to simply hand it over."

The greasy messenger boy blinked as he failed to comprehend. "You mean you won't give me the papers?" he asked dumbly.

Exactly, you moron. "Not without the proper procedures," Kankuro said, still smilingly evilly as the messenger stood dumbfounded. "You'll have to speak with my administrative assistant."

He needed to remind her to misplace the paperwork.

*****O*****

_Man_, the whole place smelled strongly for being abandoned.

Kiba's powerful sense of smell, finely-tuned by genetics and years of dedicated practice, was assaulted by the aromas, odors, and stenches suffusing the dank atmosphere of the living room. The apartment was dark on the inside, not only because the electricity had been shut off, but also because there was a lack of natural light. The gloomy atmosphere was not helped by the composite of unpleasant smells. The scent of settling dust, stagnancy, staleness, moldering fabrics, the musty odor of the beginning stages of rot, and the general funk that accompanies human habitation were in everything.

Despite the number of scents detectable Kiba was unable detect anything that might be considered suspicious or noteworthy. He sniffed again in the small apartment he had entered, trying to detect any acrid or sweet odors.

It was pretty obvious the people that had lived in the building had evacuated on short notice. The apartment still had the large pieces of furniture in it, various blankets and rugs scattered about, and food rotting in the refrigerator. The dark room had become a haven for vermin and insects, complicating the search for the source of the illness. With all the particulates in the air, thick enough that Akamaru actually sneezed while busily sniffing a dust covered couch cushion, it was comforting to know this pathogen definitely wasn't airborne. He assumed the number of insects in the building that would choose to dine on humans was what helped the Suna investigators rule out blood as the means of transmission.

Kiba fought down an urge to sigh as he stepped over a waded up camels wool throw to follow his nose to a wilting houseplant that was sporting signs of blight on it's leaves. This room, barring a miracle growing on some poor sap's sad looking philodendron, wasn't giving up any more answers than any of the other rooms their squad had investigated thus far. They had split up to cover more ground, with Matsuri sticking beside Neji since he was heading this little shindig. They had maintained contact via the headsets Matsuri had handed them all, telling them channel one was for emergencies only and channel ten was exclusively for Suna ANBU (who took a dim view of their encrypted communications being overlaid by anybody), and all of their exchanges could be summed up in two words:

"Got nothin', over."

Okay, well, that was three.

Despite the additional and unique skills their team could apply during the investigation they had not uncovered new evidence. He examined the plant closely, and believing it was an ordinary plant mold, he looked to his canine companion for confirmation. Akamaru snuffled slightly and shook his furry head before padding away to intently sniff away at an abandoned laundry basket.

A crackle of static came through the headset. Neji's implacably calm voice came over the connection: "Anything to report, Kiba?"

It was time to check in. "No. Akamaru and I checked everything in this section. There isn't anything here," he answered.

More static. "Shino?"

"Nothing to report," came the reply. Shino was covering the east wing of the floor he and Akamaru were also checking. In a situation like this one, Kiba was certain his taciturn teammate was the best man for the job. Shino's allies could find and investigate even the tiniest spaces with all their senses while he and Akamaru had to rely on smell and were often forced to draw conclusions from a distance. They wouldn't be able to use their abilities to the fullest potential until there was a lot of ground to cover in a short time. Of course, that didn't mean he had to be mature about being out-classed at the moment. Not really.

"I'm noticing a lot of parasites in this mess, fleas, mites and the like," Kiba spoke conversationally into his headset as Akamaru curiously pawed at a patch of sandy carpet. "They have anything they want to add there, Shino?" He knew it would irk the bug user that he was using the same joke he had one hundred times before, but that was part of the fun.

"My ability to interpret the behaviors of my allies does not translate to general entomological telepathy," Shino replied peevishly over the link, probably for Matsuri's edification. "However, I have become aware of the presence of numerous rats, which appear to be huge, hairy, and in desperate need of a thorough flea dip…" Kiba exchanged a look with Akamaru before Shino added, "… not unlike your last girlfriend."

_Ohhhh!_

*****O*****

The Suna hospital greenhouses, while not yet fully operational, were nonetheless in usage as much as the partially completed facilities could accommodate. Several large, well-constructed greenhouses had been carefully placed in area at angle that would allow morning sun, and had also been equipped with shades to prevent overexposure. Temari-san had even had the architects include the most efficient solar panels available and a perfectly engineered water recycling system to minimize waste at the facility.

Inside the crystalline glass and gracefully arching steel framework, rows of neatly organized planters had been put into place, and many well stocked shelves and cabinets were against the back of the house so they did not block the sun's rays. Overhead, lines of piping with sprinkler heads could be raised or lowered as necessary for irrigation, and beneath the tables themselves there was a shelf to catch any excess water to prevent over watering and send the extra back to the main reserve. Sakura was interested to see the facilities for herself and speak with the director, to see what resources might be available if she required them.

The greenhouse Sakura was slowly strolling through was the only one that had plants sprouted in the fertile soil that had grown past the seedling stage. Once the complex was fully operational, Temari-san and Tetsubin-sensei planned to have Suna grow it's own herbs rather than focus on imports for medicines, set up a facility for experimental botany, and keep specimens for general research and inquiry. The pristine greenhouse she was in was one that would be dedicated to the last of the goals. Several mature plant specimens had been dug up from the desert and non-desert sections of Wind Country and brought to the facility directly.

The air in the greenhouse carried hints of cooling mist curling through the air, brushing against Sakura's pale skin and soothing her after the near abrasive dryness of the atmosphere outside. She breathed deeply, inhaling the refreshing air and scents of moist, rich dirt, lush foliage, and the perfume of flowers in full bloom. As she leisurely made her way down the clean swept concrete of the greenhouse floor, she came to a miniature replica of an oasis, serving as the support for a selection of plants that made their home in that environment. A slight fountain had been placed in the middle of the waters, a bubbling visual cue to be sure the flow of water was continuous, and a handful of small darting fish had been included to help replicate the ecosystem.

The pink-haired kunoichi was observing the small fish nibbling at a billowing algae growing on the roots of several lily pads dangling freely in the waters. The green leaves of lily pads were decorated with delicate blossoms from a species of lotus she didn't recognize when she become aware of an approaching presence.

Sakura looked up to see a woman approaching through the shelves in the back, her eyes moving from Sakura's Konoha hitai-ite to the cargo skirt she wore. Sakura bowed politely as the woman, who was wearing a civilian uniform, came to a stop before her.

"Good evening," she said in her most respectful tone. "I have been dispatched from Konoha to serve the Kazekage in the investigation of the unknown illness. I am Haruno Sakura."

Sakura raised herself up from her bow and her polite smile twisted into a frown of confusion.

The woman, who had glossy black hair with lines of silver and crinkly crows feet over deep smile lines, was looking at her with an enthusiastic grin and sparkling eyes that left Sakura puzzled.

"Haruno Sakura?" she said cheerily, nearly fidgeting with excitement. "A pink-haired kunoichi of this age from Konoha, oh, there can't be any mistake. It's good to meet you, I'm very pleased to do so." The woman bowed very politely, laying her hands on the burgundy fabric of her robes as she did so.

Sakura hastily renewed her bow in return. "I… I am honored!" _And seriously confused at the moment._

"I am the Director of the Botanical Repository, Uzume," the woman introduced herself. As they stood straight again to face each other she continued. "And once upon a time, I was Temari-chan's nurse."

"Oh?"

"Indeed," she confirmed, as she flipped the end of her pale grey shawl over her shoulder. "You made quite the impression on my former charge."

The slightly taller, older woman looked at Sakura with a warm affection. Sakura found herself reminded of her mother, safe back in Fire Country. "I had no idea Temari-san would remember me like that."

"Not just, Temari-chan, but Gaara-sama as well." The woman tilted her salt and pepper head at Sakura, a hint of nostalgic sadness in her eyes. "You were quite the brave young woman, to face Gaara-sama when was he was like that."

Now it was Sakura's to turn smile with a sad nostalgia, her eyes cast towards the clean swept floor. How long ago had those days been? A lifetime and yet, somehow they were immediate. Facing an insane, wild, deadly enemy in the thick green forest that enshrouded her home, when she was the one and only person who could fight and defend everyone caught up there.

Kakashi-sensei had given her the mission, not Sasuke-kun, not Naruto, her. She was the squad leader; she was the one who had to be sure the mission was successful. That nobody died while under her direction.

Even then, she was beginning to realize just what an unforgivable fool she had been as a child, she and all the other idiotic, self-centered wannabe kunoichi who chased and plagued Sasuke with simpers and giggles. They had no idea of what he had faced, none, could never began to fathom the horror, and yet they all claimed they could understand him, be the princess to heal the wounded prince in a glorious romantic moment.

Sasuke had called her annoying, but that was all he said. To her, it was a wonder he didn't hate her completely. She didn't know if she could have been that strong. If the roles were reversed, she would have called him cruel in his selfishness. That was what she had been; stupid, selfish, and downright cruel in the process.

She had no right. None of them did, not her, not Ino, not any of them. People said awful things about Sasuke for leaving, that he had no right to turn traitor, but she never had any right to insert him in her stupid little girl fantasies either. His reasons might be horribly wrong, but Sasuke had real reasons for making the decisions that he did.

When she and Naruto saw him again, she needed to understand, really understand, that fact, or her apology would be meaningless. And she owed him deeply. The last thing he needed from her, if there was anything Sasuke had ever needed from her, was a shallow, thoughtless apology.

"But I'm sure you didn't come seeking me for that," Uzume-san said, and Sakura snapped back in to the present in the cool, crystalline greenhouse. "Can I be of service to you?" she finished with an open and attentive expression, reverting to a professional mode.

"Yes," Sakura replied, bringing her mind back to the task at hand. There were people in need of her medical expertise who were counting on her for their own survival and the survival of those they love. The past was unchangeable, but she could help people in the here and now. She would do the job those people needed her to do.

"Uzume-san," she said, her mind and eyes both sharp with focus. "I wanted to know if you could show me what plants you have growing and what stages they are in?"

"Absolutely," Uzume-san replied turning to walk down the sprout-lined aisle towards the back room. "If you will follow me, I'll get a listing of the burgeoning seeds and we can go through the varieties one at a time."

*****O*****

The collection of papers ruffled in her hands as Temari sifted slowly through the updates she had been handed by one of the shinobi acting as a courier. She perused the figures on the paperwork, evaluating the numbers and drawing a conclusion that made the corners of her lips turn downward.

When she had first regained consciousness following being overwhelmed by the initial onset of fever, she had been diagnosed and been told she was required to follow a strict regimen of bed rest. She objected in the strongest of terms and declared she would in no way, shape, or form stay in a bed on her back when she had work to do without a direct order from the mouth of the Kazekage himself!

Then Gaara calmly gave the order and she was stuck.

That didn't mean she had to play the good little patient. She had set up an improvised work station with her bed performing the function of a desk chair as much as Tetsubin-sensei would allow, for her own health, and was in continuous communications with the various groups stationed around Suna. The latest dispatches from Baki-sensei indicated some of the shinobi assigned to civil order and riot prevention had fallen ill.

In light of the situation, it was astonishing that riots, particularly over food had not occurred yet. The sheer number of ill citizens had severely affected the civilian labor pool just as much as it had the shinobi forces. Coupled with the shortages brought about quarantine and the limitations on imports caused by the Council's insistence appearances be maintained at all costs, many necessities were becoming scarce. The food stocks stored up in the event of famine or natural disasters would keep the citizens from starving, but it stored grains were not the same as fresh produce and ensuring food was prepared and distributed among the sick was a logistical nightmare. The number of people sufficiently ill enough to no longer be able to provide for themselves or their families was in continuous flux, and seeking out the citizens most in need of help took a degree of manpower the civilian and shinobi forces could no longer spare.

This didn't even count maintaining infrastructures such as sewage, or ensuring proper sanitary conditions where the ill were collecting in the village. Secondary diseases were becoming a worry, as was preventing looting in portions of the village that had been evacuated the longest and were in the poorest condition to start with.

And that didn't cover the number of children who were without guardians at this point. One of the reports she had been handed included a commentary from a social worker about determining which children had parents that were incapacitated and which had been simply abandoned.

She wanted to see one of the Council members responsible for this get on Gaara's bad side. Just one.

"Temari-sama, have you finished with your initial review?" Tetsubin-sensei pulled her away from the thoughts slowly reddening her vision to see the unflappable doctor rounding the privacy curtain hanging from the ceiling of her hospital room.

Temari sighed softly, then exhaled upward sharply, blowing her bangs upward in a flap. "Here," she said, extending the collection of communiqué's to the man as he took them with one weathered hand. Despite the weariness dragging at her shoulders and her senses, not all of it from the paperwork she noted with a sinking feeling in her stomach, the doctor's presence alone was comforting.

Tetsubin-sensei was a naturally mild-mannered man of endless patience. His years of experience both in the field as medic nin and in the hospital as full time doctor to both shinobi and civilians meant there were very few situations that he hadn't encountered and it was nearly impossible to surprise him. He was also one of the most compassionate people she had ever known; an even more remarkable trait in a shinobi.

After her Uncle Yashamaru died, her nurse introduced her to Tetsubin-sensei, her Uncle's colleague and supervisor, at the memorial service. Tetsubin-sensei was warm and sincere, unlike almost every other person who showed up to curry favor she now understood in hindsight, and she had clung to that like a lifeline. Tetsubin-sensei had a daughter around her own age she found, and that explained why he had been able to handle a heartbroken little girl; including seeing through her failed attempt to put up a resilient front.

Speaking of…

"Tetsubin-sensei, how is Kyusu-chan?" It had been a while since she had seen what could be considered her only friend her outside of her brothers. The daughter of an influential physician who had no interest in political machinations would normally have made a perfectly acceptable playmate for a daughter of the Kage.

The fact that Kyusu-chan's disability was held against her, and especially that the last straw regarding whether or not they were permitted to see each other was that one little girl dare hug another, was what Temari considered the point where she began to realize that what her Otou-sama was teaching to her was wrong. It also made her miss her mother that much more.

"She's worried about you," Tetsubin-sensei replied, the warm burr in his voice as comforting as a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "She's torn between trying to keep me safe at home and making sure I'm here to take care of you," he said with a fatherly smile. "When this is all over, you should come over for tea again."

"I'll do that," Temari promised.

*****O*****

Shino considered his team's investigation of the site of the initial reports of the unidentified sickness to be largely unproductive.

Upon completion of the objective, the team had returned directly to the Kazekage's Tower to compose reports of their first hand experience and make annotations for themselves for later reference. The team had been informed upon returning that dinner had been prepared for them, and they had been offered the option of choosing to dine in their separate offices.

Neji had decided the evening agenda would best be served if they consumed their meals separately, composed the reports, then held a meeting in the main room. The team captain had also requested that a message be delivered to Sakura informing her that her presence was required.

Shino had deliberately placed the remains of his meal in a corner of his writing table. His allies had mobilized themselves and were busily picking through the remainders for the most nutritious selections. The meal had been of high quality, largely culturally neutral, highly nutritious, easily prepared and eaten, and only lightly spiced. Shino was certain the chef's of the Tower kitchen staff had been careful to prepare a meal that would be appreciated by a foreign shinobi, carry hints of the local culture, yet not be alien enough to be distasteful to the unfamiliar palate.

Shino took advantage of the quiet and solitude of his personal study to loosen his muscles somewhat as he wrote in his neat and precise script a concise yet detailed account of his impressions and observations at the OT. His pen scrapped steadily against the provide paper, which crinkled lightly as he did so. Some of his kikai bugs, satisfied with their supplementary meal, returned to his sleeve, and upon noting the arm was in motion, scurried to the edge of the smooth wood table, traversed down the leg in an orderly line, approached his sandal, and crawled over his ankle and under his pant leg to make their way back to one of the entry and exit portals maintained in his epidermis.

Even as he focused on logically ordering and clearly relaying in the written word his recollections, speculations, and conclusions, part of his mind was glad for the opportunity to genuinely relax, not simply force himself to remain calm and minimize his bodily motion.

The symbiotic relationship his clan maintained with their allies was not without undesirable but unavoidable consequences. Despite the rumors the more gullible shinobi and an unfortunate number of civilians believed, there was no psychic connection with the insects, but rather a subtle communication of hormones and chakra. With time, colonies become acclimated to accept common movements such as walking or traveling at accelerated speeds with the aid of chakra as normal, but sudden or unusual movements, frenetic activity, or heightened anxiety would cause his allies to become agitated. Although the bugs moved using regular pathways maintained painlessly by a combination of anesthetic molecules that were continuously released, secreted a special 'liquid glue' as the Konoha medics called it that allowed portals to be maintained hygienically and without re-injury to tissue, and restricting themselves to lines of travel that would be the least obtrusive to their host, there was simply no suppressing his instinct that rejected the feeling of their daily rituals as abnormal sensations.

A reaction from his allies informed him one of the teammates he had tagged with a female kikai bug was approaching. The young man assumed it to be Matsuri with orders to inform him Sakura had arrived and the debriefing of the day was to commence. The chakra signature at his door and the voice that followed the polite rap of knuckles confirmed this.

"Shino-san? Are you in there?" Her voice was puzzled, but that was not surprising.

"I am. Should I immediately report to the conference room?" he called out softly, long practiced at how loud he could be while maintaining clarity yet minimizing vocal reverberations.

"Oh! Ah, yes, please do." Matsuri regained her composure by the last words of the statement.

Shino smiled gently with sympathy. He could not expect her to be aware it was common practice for him to write in the dark, as it was for many Aburame. Their allies had a distinct preference for darkness, and they found illumination unsettling as a consequence. Shino raised his hood and reached for the shaded goggles he had removed that limited the light penetrating the thin layers of skin all people had around their eyes.

Although the kikai bugs generally avoided the delicate tissues of the face, it was easiest for both the host and allies to maintain the portals to the outside where the layers of skin were thinnest.

*****O*****

Matsuri was doing her best to maintain her professional composure but this situation was so freaking awesome!

All those girls who had picked on her for her mixed heritage at the Academy should see her now! The Kazekage-sama's personal student, assigned personally by him to such a key position at a time of crisis, and sitting in on a meeting with highly respected Konoha shinobi and two of the top jounin in Suna!

Well, this Aburame-san person was freaky, but the others were all cool!

Baki-san, Kankuro-sama, and the last of the Konoha shinobi, Sakura-san, were assembled in the conference room exchanging information and out-lining an agenda. She had to make sure she remembered everything for Gaara-sama. He was all about the details.

"If you begin examining hospitalized patients tomorrow, will you remain there or move out into the city?" Neji-taichou was asking Sakura-san.

"For the time being," the only Konoha kunoichi replied, "I want to remain where I can easily consult with Tetsubin-sensei and Temari-san."

Matsuri tried not to look star struck. It was so cool she got to refer to Temari-sama by –san!

"I have some more question I want to address during examinations before I move out into the city proper," Sakura continued, "especially concerning environmental factors."

"When you go," Baki-san said to her, "you will need a escort. Be sure to give us notice."

"Of course."

"We have come to an agreement on the plans, then?" Kankuro-sama asked, eyeing Neji-taichou in a manner Matsuri thought was almost challenging. She got the feeling those two had a subtle personality conflict going on.

Neji nodded calmly. "We will follow the trail of infection as documented within the city tomorrow. Depending on what is discovered, we may choose to investigating the surrounding environments." He turned to Sakura. "Sakura will continue her collaboration at the hospital until further notice."

"Right," Kankuro said roughly. "Matsuri." Sharply.

"Hai!" She responded. Wow, he was cranky this evening. Not that he wasn't usually a jerk anyway.

"Get a copy of their reports to me first thing in the morning," he said, standing up in a slouchy manner that had Kiba-san watching the puppet master with a quirked eyebrow.

There was a reason why all that guy's students bailed when the jounin sensei assignments were shuffled. Sheesh.

* * *

AN: Some of you make recognize Uzume from Written in the Dust. I like her and wanted to use her again.

On the topic of pairings: This story is not and was never supposed to be a romance, but there is some romance in it. There will be light GaaSaku (in the next chapter, actually) and a touch of NaruHina, but that isn't the focus. Don't expect out of the blue declarations of love or anything like that.

Review if you like it!


	4. The Morass

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 4

The early morning in the desert city of Sunakagure no Sato was cool and gray. The sun had not yet risen beyond the barrier of the limitless horizon of sand and the last vestiges of the blanket of night had not yet been lifted from the open skies filled with the sighs of the breeze, leaving the world below enshrouded in sleepy shadows.

Sakura had been up for an hour already.

Like most shinobi, she had been trained to subsist on a few hours sleep per night less than a civilian, four and quarter hours a night was a typical sleep cycle. If necessary, she could go days without sleep at all before she experienced a decline in her cognitive abilities. Despite the urgency of the situation in Suna, it was not advisable to push the limits of their efficacy while sleep deprived and thus she and the rest of the team whose health she was assigned to defend had slept.

The twitter and tweets of the desert fowl were distinctly different than the songs and choruses of the Konoha songbirds to be sure. Sakura found herself comparing the differences as she leaned against the stonewall of the hospital and slurped down the coffee she had been provided with. Unlike most other situations the young medic had been presented with during her assignment in the desert, about this latest discovery she could be certain.

Coffee in Suna was _strong_. She needed to remember to not request that it be black next time. She also needed to note the variety so she could recommend it to Shizune for the rare occasions when Tsunade-shishou coerced her into going out drinking with her. Shizune was more intimidating than Ibiki-san when she came to work hung over.

The rosy haired kunoichi lowered the cup from her lips and concentrated on what her rounds with patients had revealed. As she had been informed, there were no identifiable causes of the illness. She had pushed her diagnostic abilities to their limits in her attempts to uncover even the slightest clue that had been previously overlooked to no avail. Her medical chakra had traveled from her hands into the patients as it normally did, flowed into their own chakra networks, rippled over internals organs, seeped into the most minute capillaries and fragile aveoli, coursed through the blood from the tips of the toes to the innermost crevices of the brain and found absolutely no foreign tissue or organisms, abnormal metabolic activity, growths, atrophies, or any toxicities outside of the documented wasting.

The exertion had left her weary and contemplative. The only thing she had noted was an oddity in the chakra itself. Temari had offered to let Sakura examine her, which Sakura had accepted with great reluctance due to the dubious propriety of the act given Temari's social rank.

Sakura had pulled the curtain for privacy and settled herself into a chair next to Temari's hospital bed as the older kunoichi lay out to be examined. She tried to force the knowledge of Temari's significance to Konoha Village's greatest ally out of her mind and not think about what Tsunade-shishou would do to her if she caused an international incident.

Temari regarded her with a wry grin as the medic visibly composed herself. "Relax, Sakura-san, you'd think you never examined a patient before."

Sakura caught herself and smiled nervously. "Not one that could result in the collapse of crucial diplomatic ties if I screw up."

Temari barked out a laugh. "What are you going to do? Give me an accidental sex change?" The brusque blonde laughed again at Sakura's rapid blush, which clashed violently with her hair. "If you can do that and make it look like an accident, you can examine Kankuro next."

Despite Temari's joie de vivre, her internal systems were beginning to show signs of distress. All her major organs were not functioning at the levels to be expected in a young and healthy kunoichi who had never suffered a major injury, and the liver and kidneys were all beginning to show signs of activity that indicated they were straining to keep up with demands of processing the byproducts of increasing cell death. On the contrary her extremities showed no signs of damage, as the medic would have expected.

There was, however, an interesting variation in one her systems that caught Sakura's attention. She frowned slightly in concentration and withdrew her diagnostic chakra back into her own teeming chakra network.

"Temari-san," Sakura asked, looking the other young woman in the face, "I detected an odd perturbation in your chakra, a kind I haven't seen before." Green eyes sparked with interest. "Is it something familiar to your medical staff?"

"Yes and no," Temari replied pulling herself up to kneel on the hospital bed and face her colleague. "The perturbation has been noted in infected patients before, the greater the chakra capacity, the greater the ripple effect, as is usual." Temari looked to Sakura who nodded in agreement. Some diseases occasionally indirectly effected the metaphysical chakra network through their effects on the internal organs the lines interacted closely with.

"But," Temari continued, "this particular pattern is new." She looked at Sakura curiously. "Is it like anything you've encountered before?"

Sakura shook her head, strands of pink hair swinging about her face. "I haven't, but it's consistent with the echoes one commonly sees from distress in the organs. Essentially, it's only telling us what we already know."

Sakura took another sip of the coffee, vaguely wondering if the java was going to make her hair stand on end. Something in the back of her mind was telling her what she had discovered was significant, but she couldn't determine how. Knowing that an illness that attacked the major organs caused secondary change in the associated chakra network was not an earth-shattering discovery. It was like noting colds gave little kids a runny nose.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling it was significant, she just didn't know why. She shifted her weight so she was standing fully upright and looked down the smooth sanded hallway bustling with doctors, nurses, aids, and messengers. This portion of the hospital had been quartered off to ensure the staff could move freely to work and not have to step over the infected cluttering the hallways in other sections. Just beyond her sight, Sakura could sense the huddled ill, suffering and clinging to dying hope.

She would solve this, she just didn't know how yet.

*****O*****

Kiba had decided the desert was a sucky place to live. What was wrong with people? It was hot, the sun was blazing, and sand got into everything, including between his sandals and his feet where it rubbed maddeningly. Did Suna shinobi use chakra to keep it a bay? He bet they did.

The team was traversing over dunes and barren rock marked with the occasional mass of thorns that passed itself off as a plant. The area outside Suna was a combination of smooth desert just beyond heavily fortified rocks walls and a labyrinth of gullies, canyons, caves, and washouts from the infrequent heavy rain. Coarse desert sands, broken gravel, and chips of stone crunched under their sandals as they passed from roasting sunlight to cool shade when passing underneath overhangs.

Kiba was glad to give his eyes a break from squinting against the sun reflecting off the pale sands as he and Akamaru darted into a shallow, smooth walled cave that must have been created from the flow of water in the bend of an ancient river.

The salt crystals from his drying sweat clinging to his short dark hair were beginning to itch. He took out his water bottle and poured some into a collapsible bowl for Akamaru before dampening a cloth to wipe his neck.

Guided by Matsuri, they had been exploring the landscape around Suna for anything suspicious the Suna shinobi may have missed. There were certainly enough nooks and crannies to hide away small items or evidence, but neither Shino nor Neji had found anything and he and Akamaru hadn't found any scents aside from those left by the Suna patrols or native fauna.

Suna had a lot of lizards, he now knew.

It had been a long shot to begin with, but without any evidence in the infected persons or the city proper to investigate, checking the desert was necessary.

A soft thud and flash of turquoise cloth against the brown landscape told Kiba Matsuri had found him.

"Are you alright, Kiba-san?" she asked concernedly as she peered into the small cave.

"Yeah, we were just taking a break," he replied, repacking his gear. Back to the salt mines.

_Rimshot._

*****O*****

The light coming through the large picture window in the office of the Hokage was dull and grey. Clouds had moved in over Konoha, not particularly heavy, but just grey enough to threaten rain. A few light drops made the faintest of patters as they struck the carefully polished glass.

Ton ton grunted and snuffled to herself as she watched the weather outside while Tsunade focused on the two dispatches she had received from the team in Suna, one written by Neji and one written by Sakura. Her eyebrows sunk low over her golden eyes as she intently processed the information in the reports.

It was good to know Gaara had done his best to provide the team with free reign in Suna, although the severity of the problem remained deeply alarming. Equally troubling were the facts surrounding the investigation of the illness itself. Sakura had been her student long enough to know exactly what information to include and how in a report to tailor it to Tsunade's liking, and the Sanin rapidly absorbed everything Sakura had sent for her to know.

Which was why she was increasingly getting the urge to find a convenient boulder and pulverize it clean out of existence.

Idiopathic illnesses and mysterious ailments with unknown causes were unavoidable in medicine. The human body was far to intricate and complex for everything that could go wrong to be easily picked apart and understood, but an entire village, small city truthfully, should not be experiencing common systems without an identifiable cause, let alone a pathogen that could not be detected.

A highly infectious contagion and environmental toxicities were the most likely answers, but neither of those could be confirmed or denied. Both Sakura and Neji had mentioned the possibility of a jutsu being the cause, but that idea was almost as ridiculous as that of an invisible germ.

The Hokage put down the letters as she finalized the plans in her mind. She would have Shizune assign a team to dig for information in Konoha's own medical archives, and advise Sakura to continue investigating the possibility of a jutsu. Based on the information about Suna's hospital instruments and her own experiences with Suna's medical prowess from the Great War, if a pathogen or an environmental cause couldn't be found, someone was hiding it. Given the amount of time Suna had dedicated to poisons, she wondered if this could be a left over biological weapon that had been activated. If that were so, the young Kazekage would have to rely on the candidness of his military personnel in charge of classified experiments. She wished him luck with that.

She should ask Sakura if that possibility had been explored in the next communication.

Tsunade was readying to summon Shizune when there was a knock at the door to her office.

"Tsunade-sama? Your appointment has arrived," Shizune herself announced as she slowly opened the large door and looked around the edge.

The blonde allowed herself to make a face at the news since only her assistant could see it. That guy.

"Let him in," Tsunade called out in her best no nonsense, authoritative voice. "Also, I have new instructions to give you once this meeting is concluded."

"Hai," Shizune answered with a quick nod of her dark haired head as she stepped aside to let in a man wearing spotless white robes and wearing a severely arranged straight back hairstyle.

The man treaded soundlessly into the room and bowed with impeccable execution and politeness. "Hokage-sama, thank you for being graciousness enough to take time out of your busy schedule to speak with me."

"Hyuuga Hiashi-sama," Tsunade answered without the politesse, "what can I do for you?"

*****O*****

The various shinobi and occasional civilian employee bowed respectfully as their Kazekage walked past them in the stone hallways of the Tower. Gaara noted the respect as he passed, starkly aware of how different the response to his presence was versus the experiences of his childhood, even if the gestures were only a matter of ceremony.

The heavy fabric of the white robes on his shoulders swung slightly with the dwindling movement as he came to a stop outside of the office that had been allotted to Sakura. He tapped lightly on the door and waited for a response from the kunoichi behind it. Years of necessity had honed his ability to keep his emotion carefully hidden behind the appearance of a smooth surface, but underneath his emotions churned.

He had heard whispers in the dark as long as he could remember. People spoke more softly at night, in hushed tones. Sometimes because they were tired, sometimes because others near them were resting, sometimes because they did not want to be overheard. Snatches of conversation, soft words, murmured thoughts and hopes. Then the night would become quiet as all those voices faded into sleep. He had often wondered what it would be like to fall asleep that way, to rest. To close the eyes to the world and feel your breath slowing, the body become heavy, and not feel the cold creeping into the sluggish veins, the prickly frost that hardened into daggers of slicing malice that rushed the brain and screeched and scrapped against the insides of the skull with a harsh grating sound.

Soft hair, he could see that, framing such a delicate face, but her eyes were glinting like steel as she faced him. A cheong-san, red like the waterfall that gushed unrestrained from a gaping gut wound in a fallen opponent, but the eyes were green…

_…blue…_

Flashes of memory that broke through the claws digging into his mind, tearing trenches into his consciousness as the Shukaku fought for control.

The Shukaku still hated her. Loathing slithered along the outskirts of his mind, but could not find a way in.

There was a rustle of activity around the Kage as people passed by in the corridor, but from the door across from him he detected nothing.

Gaara blinked. He knew she was within, her unique and unforgettable chakra signature was definitely present. His eyes widened marginally at the emergence of a distressing possibility. Had she fallen ill?

His pale hand flexed with unnecessary force on the doorknob as he opened the door to her office and quickly looked for the petite kunoichi's distinctive hair. He spotted her, and stared.

Sakura was at her lantern-illuminated desk, completely and totally engrossed in the words of the documents in her healer's hands. The dark fan of her lashes half hid her eyes as she squinted in concentration, her nose almost wrinkled with focus. She had no idea he was there.

How bizarre for a kunoichi to let her guard down so. She was quite remarkable in more ways then one.

"Haruno-san."

Pink hair whipped through the air as Sakura spun her head to look at him, somewhat chagrinned.

"I knocked," he informed her gently.

"I apologize, Kazekage-sama," Sakura said, recovering her composure swiftly. She seemed to suddenly remember the paper in her hand. She slammed it down unto her desk and stood up from her chair. "Did you need something? Am I needed at the hospital?" She looked concerned.

"No," he said abruptly, then realized he needed to reassure her. He had inadvertently caused her to believe there was a medical emergency "That is not why I am here." She looked politely puzzled but stiffness in her spine told him she was annoyed that he had upset her for no reason. This was going poorly. "I would like you to come to dinner this evening."

He was relieved when she relaxed and smiled at him. There was much he wanted to discuss.

"Of course. Kankuro-san already told me about the dinner," she said.

What?

"What?" Thoughtlessly.

"Kankuro-san told me about the dinner he set up so we could talk with each other about something other than the mission," she laughed slightly. "He said Temari-san told him to do it to minimize the possibility of overwork and fatigue." Her warm smile widened in a friendly manner. "He didn't tell me you were coming as well."

"I will be there," he told her. What an awkward feeling this was. He would have to find her to speak with her alone another time.

He also now needed to go find Kankuro.

And assign him extra hours handling the Council's messengers.

*****O*****

"These are finally sprouting there mature leaves," Uzume-san noted, one gloved finger extended under the rich green of the large new leaves dwarfing the paler green buds beneath. "The Traveler's Chew doesn't carry much of its unique stimulant until it sprouts these." Uzume-san lifted the leaf slightly so Sakura could see the distinct difference in the vibrancy of color and distinctness of the veining.

Sakura was genuinely glad the Director had been willing to see her again and explain the properties of the plants she wasn't as familiar with in greater detail. Wind Country was a very large country, with sections largely uninhabited and rarely explored, and with some of the more distant tribes owing only a confederation type allegiance to the daimyo's central authority. Therefore, the flow of goods and knowledge was not as vigorous as it was in Fire Country, and many of the plants Uzume-san had introduced her to not only were incompletely understood in her home country, some were practically unheard of. The Traveler's Chew was a high altitude herb that stored a stimulant chemical in the leaves that promoted chakra production when chewed by humans. The side effect was the body could be tricked into going without food, ceasing to produce it's own chakra, or lose all ability to regulate metabolism, resulting in severe health risks to users.

"We're hoping studying this plant might help us develop a more efficient soldier pill," Uzume explained, removing her hand from the burgeoning seedling. The rich soil in the greenhouse was a much better growing environment than the wind blasted bare rock face it was adapted to growing on.

Sakura nodded in understanding as she took in the details of the delicate sprout. She was going to have much to relay to the Konoha Hospital's pharmaceutical division. They were going to be begging Gaara-sama for permission to send in research teams.

Uzume looked through the screened roof at the position of the sun to gauge the time. "Sakura-san, it's approaching my tea time." She looked with a warm expression at the kunoichi still bent over the seedling. "Would you care to join me?" she invited.

Sakura straightened herself and nodded to the older woman. "Thank you. I would like that."

It turned out for all of her knowledge of exotic plants, Uzume-san liked her tea very basic and simple, which was a relief to Sakura after her experience with the coffee. Uzume had set up a simple table and two stools to enjoy her tea without having to exit the greenhouse. Not only was in practical, but the atmosphere was much more pleasant and refreshing than the air outside.

"Uzume-san," Sakura said as Uzume sipped the matcha from her cup. "You said you were Temari-san's nurse at one time. How did you become the Director here?"

"Temari-chan," she answered with an affectionate smile that made eyes sparkle and the lines beside them crinkle. "Temari-chan was my last charge. My own two girls are grown, married, and off living their own lives," she said wistfully. Then she gave a mock frown. "Still no grandkids though." She laughed and Sakura made a soft laughter like sound to humor her. "I don't know if you know this, but Temari-chan is an enthusiastic amateur botanist," the former nurse finished with a motherly pride.

"I didn't know," Sakura replied honestly. "Has she been so all her life?" she asked as she took a sip from her cup.

"Oh, yes," Uzume declared with a downward wave of her hand, a 'don't be silly' gesture. "From the beginning." Her sparkling eyes darkened slightly as her thoughts turned inwards to memory and her smile was tainted with touch of sadness. "Just like her mother. Their personalities, their talent with the Iron Fan." Her head tilted to one side. "She is a lot like her mother in many ways," she said softly.

"Her mother?" Sakura prodded gently. She knew nothing about the wife of the previous Kazekage outside of what she had learned in her Civics classes at the Academy. She had been a Suna kunoichi, had not been a Suna native, and had died giving birth to her last child. She had been little more than a footnote.

"Karura-sama," Uzume-san said nodding absently, mostly in her own thoughts.

Yup, not a Suna name, although Gaara was not the kind of name typical in Suna either. They sounded like they were more northern.

"She was wonderful, Karura-sama," Uzume said as she flicked her eyes up to Sakura's, sincerity shinning in them, before she looked at the delicate porcelain cup cradled in her worn hands. "She loved her family so much, and she tried so hard to care for them. She never thought about herself. And she tried so hard to protect them all. So hard! She never gave up. She even tried to protect Sunamaru-sama from himself." The woman sighed tiredly, her shoulders sagging.

Sakura sat across from her in awed silence, her cooling tea forgotten. She was certain it was not any of her business to her this, but Uzume-san seemed to be unburdening herself, as though this was something she wanted to say but had no one to say it to.

"She was nothing but a refugee from the ghetto to so many, a second class citizen looked down on and laughed at, but she worked to support her mother and that tragic brother of hers. Her whole life was tragic, but she was always trying to help others." Uzume looked to Sakura again. "I was hand picked by her to help them raise Temari-chan. She loved her dearly and did everything she could to bring her up safe from others manipulations." She looked down again. "Then the Ichibi got loose... It… his mind…" she faltered. "And her poor brother was never the same again. I was the only one left who could watch over Temari-chan for her. To keep my position I had to keep my head down, even when I saw all that was happening. I couldn't protect the other two. Oh, _Gaara-sama_."

The salt and pepper head turned towards the transparent glass of the walls of the crystalline greenhouse. Beyond it was the featureless desert sky. "I couldn't help him. Sunamaru-sama was so suspicious, I would have lost Temari-chan."

She returned to facing forward, though her dark eyes were still downcast. A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "I think she would have been proud of the woman Temari-chan has grown to become." The smile faded a bit. "Kankuro-kun is rough, but he is outgrowing some of it. And Gaara-sama," she hesitated, a smile that was at the edge of tears emerged. "I thought I had lost him. He was so far gone, but then," she looked to the astonished Sakura, "your team came along, and it was like everything I prayed for came through. I know that you were only defending your Village and your teammate, but thank you." She smiled genuinely, remorseful and grateful. "Thank you to you and to Uzumaki Naruto-san."

Sakura was overwhelmed. Completely. And humbled into near silence, but she managed to get the words past her quivering, struggling lips. "Whatever I can do, Uzume-san."

*****O*****

Chakra trickled down through the network in her calves, through her ankles, and to the soles of her feet as her sandals touched the rocks that formed the natural fortress protecting her Village. Matsuri leaped from boulder to boulder, ricocheting off one rock face and landing lightly on the next before vaulting forward to land just in front of the guards at the Village edge. The guards watched the rest of the squad and Akamaru land in the sparse sand on the rock before stepping aside to let them through.

She was panting lightly and reached for her canteen, wanting a quick drink before she talked with Neji-taichou. Their squad had scoured the sands and used the kekkei genkai and unique family jutsus of the nin from Konoha but they had been no more successful then the squads lead by Temari-sama. Neji-taichou was a remarkably composed person, calmly in control at all times, but she was beginning to read his subtle facial expressions. After so much time being trained by Gaara-sama, she was pretty good at seeing beneath the surface. He was finally feeling frustrated. Now that the novelty of her assignment had worn off, she was beginning to feel that way again, too. She was busily wracking her brain for another option to explore. She didn't want Neji-taichou or the others to feel like they needed to ask someone else. It was her assignment, she'd be so humiliated and she didn't want to let Gaara-sama down. She had one good idea left, but she'd have to sell it without looking dumb when they all got there.

She had paused in the shade of a watchtower within the city walls, and as Kiba and the bug guy finished drinking, she looked to the Neji to make sure he was listening. Better get right to it; her captain didn't do small talk.

"I can think of one other place that holds the possibility of being the source of the outbreak," she said. Neji was looking directly at her, Kiba finished his water with a gulp before leaning forward to listen better, and the bug guy just kinda stood there like he always did but she sure he was listening. "The underground river that feeds the well at the OT breaks the surface north of the city at what is known as the Quicksand Oasis. The area is like it sounds; full of quicksand pits from where the river doesn't quite come through, and the pool of water itself is really shallow. It would be difficult to get anything into the flow period, and the sand is a natural filter, but it's always a possibility."

_Please buy that._

To the young genin's instant relief, her captain nodded in acknowledgement and Kiba made a noise of interest in the back of his throat. The bug guy shifted his weight from one foot to the other so she guessed he was interested, too.

"How far away is the oasis?" Neji asked her.

"A few hours across open sand there and back," Matsuri answered, picturing the giant stretch of grainy and dusty nothingness in her mind. "To account for investigating and rest, and getting past the quicksand pits, we should consider it an all day trip."

The stately Hyuuga nodded again. "We shall visit the oasis tomorrow. We'll leave before sunrise to avoid traveling during the hottest part of the day."

_Cool_. That was pretty painless.

"Let's all go get cleaned up," Kiba said as Akamaru chewed at sand grains stuck to the pads of his large paws. "We have that dinner to attend this evening."

"Right," Matsuri agreed as she turned to leave for her home. "I'll see you all there." As she began to hop across the rooftops, she thought to herself there was no way she was showing up at a dinner with the Kazekage-sama, Kankuro-sama, and multiple honored guests this funky.

_Gross_.

*****O*****

Shizune flipped the page of the journal she was reading to bring herself to the next chapter. The pages of the huge volume were crisp and stiff, the book so rarely used and so well preserved in the vaults of the temperature and humidity controlled archives that despite its age it was in near perfect condition.

Shizune's dark eyes rapidly skimmed over the entries, efficiently assimilating reports carefully inscribed by a dutiful hand almost a decade ago. The volume was filled with reports of unusual injuries caused by jutsus during the war, focusing on unique, unusual, or inexplicable damage. As she moved from one detailed entry to another, it become more and more obvious to the kunoichi that there was nothing more revealing in this book than there was in any of the other complied reports she and the other shinobi busily raiding the archives had come across. Although the shelves were high enough to inspire vertigo when one needed to climb the ladder to the highest shelves, the books densely packed enough that they put up a fight one someone tried to slide one of their number free, and the rows of packed shelves so long one could get disoriented walking through them, so far there was nothing in the books that could be considered helpful outside if ideas and theories that had already been considered.

Shizune flipped the cover of the oversized tome closed with a swirling puff of dust and stood up from her chair. She fit her hands around the edges of the book and lifted it to her chest to return to its place in the shelves. She shivered lightly as her blood began moving trough her limbs again; the air in the archives was slightly cool for the sake of the leather, paper, ink, and glue.

Normally, she would not be attending to such a task herself, but Tsunade-sama's mood this morning had sent everyone out of her path. Tsunade-sama was hot tempered and direct by nature, and had a very low tolerance for BS. Since the vast majority of paperwork that crossed her desk was just that, she was typically aggravated to the point of hair-trigger detonation by mid-morning. It definitely did not help that Hiashi-sama had come by for an appointment the day before. Shizune hadn't been surprised when the man had shown up for a personal conference or short notice, his hubris loved the show of privilege, but the amount of time the two had spent behind the closed door suggested he had made himself more of a well-connected and highly influential nuisance than usual.

She turned a corner in the stacks to find Shikamaru focusing with his usual moderately alarming intensity on a few scraps of information the chuunin squads that had been assisting her had compiled and left for the perusal of the recognized genius. If the borderline scowl on his face said anything, he was no closer to new information than they had been before they descended into what the chuunin in the Hokage's administrative offices called "The Huge Bat Cave o' Books Nobody Actually Wants to Read".

"Have you discovered anything new?" she asked. He may not have an answer, but he might have had an insight.

Shikamaru had just lifted his focused gaze from a list of statistics to acknowledge her when a shuffling in the nearby concrete stairwell caught their attention. A fast and light series of steps preceded the appearance of a very frazzled looking, light haired kunoichi, who swung to a stop and adjusted her glasses before looking to Shizune and, upon seeing Shikamaru, blushing madly.

Shizune smiled politely as Shikamaru visibly wilted, a grimace on his face. She had to sympathize. Although Shiho was friendly, upbeat, and an enthusiastic worker, she was, and there was no other way to put it, at the very fringes of eccentric.

The chuunin had an exceptional talent for spotting patterns and ciphers and had been tapped for code breaking. Shizune often felt concern for those that had to be trained under Ibiki-san, but Shiho had responded in positively.

To be mild.

"Ibiki-san?" echoed breezily, blinking rapidly behind her large spectacles. "Oh, he's just a big teddy bear!" she finished airily; and then she was distracted by a nearby shiny paperweight.

Shizune was relieved in one-way, and deeply concerned in a whole new way.

The light-hearted chuunin fairly floated over to the desk Shikamaru was situated at, still blushing madly.

_Here we go…_

*****O*****

Shiho was thrilled to see the wonderful and manly Nara Shikamaru at the desk, bent over the piles of documents, focused, intent, demonstrating once again why he was a true man, one to be admired, sought after, and treasured.

There was a display of butterflies on the wall! Look at the butterflies! The one was a really pretty shade of blue. She liked blue.

Oh, Shizune-san was down here, too.

"Shizune-san, how are you?" she greeted politely, smiling at her even though her eyes were drawn to Shikamaru. So focused, so dedicated.

His hair was coming loose from his hair tie. Why did he wear it in a ponytail anyway? That was a more feminine hairstyle right? Well, not him obviously, but why didn't he just cut it? She could give him her stylist's name. She needed to go get her split ends trimmed. Would Shikamaru notice her split ends? Oh, she hoped not.

"I am well, thank you," Shizune answered.

Shizune-san was always so perfectly polite. Wow.

"And you, Shikamaru?" Shiho said to Shikamaru, trying to act nonchalant. Oh, he was impressive, so amazing.

"Meh." Shikamaru leaned his jaw onto his hand and sighed. "So, you've been assigned to our group, huh?"

He looked moderately displeased as she nodded vigorously. Did he doubt her abilities? She hoped not. Were people telling him bad things? Were people gossiping about her? Who would gossip about her? She didn't think Shikamaru would listen to that. Did he? Maybe he spoke to Ino-san and she said something. Ino-san gossiped a lot. In fact, last week…

"I'll show you were I left off," Shizune said, setting the large book she had in arms down on the desk. "I just finished reviewing the field reports from the final skirmishes during the last of our engagements during Water County's civil war."

"Alright," she replied brightly. Time to get to work! "I'll find what you need. Count on me!" She'd find what everyone else overlooked. It's what she did best.

"You're wasting your time."

Shiho and Shizune both looked to Shikamaru in surprise at the plain, flat declaration. He was neither angry, nor frustrated; only soberly confident. He muttered to himself briefly, before inhaling deeply and sitting up straight in the chair. He looked Shiho right in her eyes, somehow looking straight through the obscuring lenses to her face.

"If there was something to find, we would have found it." He was cool and composed, a statement of simple fact. "Whatever the missing piece of information is, it isn't here. It's with Neji and his team in Suna."

He regarded the two kunoichi; Shizune's dignified silence was a tacit agreement, and Shiho's confusion was slowly fading into remorseful acceptance.

"It depends on them."

*****O*****

Shino was moderately surprised to see Sakura had arrived from the hospital at the ornately decorated dinning hall allocated for the dinner before rest of the team. He had anticipated she would require a summons. Sakura was known to become engrossed in her work to the exclusion of other activities. He assumed one of their hosts had reminded her of the engagement to assure her punctuality.

Green eyes looked up from the polished surface of the long table as the rest of her team, Matsuri, and Kankuro-san filed into the large dinning hall. Sakura mentally catalogued the people coming in through the doorway and noted there was one fewer than expected.

"Is Gaara-sama not coming?" she asked Kankuro as the group pulled out the ornate chairs to sit at the heavy wood table.

Kankuro returned her question with a slit-eyed grin as he sat at the head of the table. "He was called away to deal with some Kage business. I often sort through messages from the Council, and I found an interesting error in the paperwork of a spice merchant that required his attention and he decided it could not wait."

Shino's objective analysis of his own personality and mannerisms lead him to conclude he was not prone to intimidation, yet he found himself nominally disconcerted by the undercurrent of vengeance behind that smile.

"Perhaps his evening will be as diverting as our own," he offered blandly.

"The Kazekage-sama offers his apologies for not being able to attend," Matsuri stated formally, not wanting them to think Gaara-sama had been rude because she forgot to relay his formal regrets. "He has arranged for us to enjoy a traditional meal and hopes that we will be able to fully enjoy the best of Suna's hospitality and that it will not be tainted by these difficult times."

Kiba waved a hand dismissively as he sniffed at the air. "That's all well and good. Just feed me."

The meal as it was presented proved most satisfactory of the senses. His study of traditions associated with other villages had provided him with information related to both cuisine and dinning etiquette. Suna meals when presented for guests were elaborate affairs. He was appreciative of the amount of carefully prepared and presented platters of rich and aromatic courses, and the amount of time and effort that might have been diverted to observe such a tradition. As the serving dishes and individual plates were set before them by the staff, Shino carefully filtered through the rules of decorum he had read over and tried to establish which accepted phrase of gratitude would be most fitting before they began the light conversation that would accompany dinning. Matsuri was uncomfortable with him and Kankuro would most likely not be concerned with decorum anymore than Kiba. Perhaps he should say something polite to Sakura to begin the polite dinner conversation.

"So, Matsuri," Kiba said casually as soon as the last waiter quietly left, speaking to the girl on his left as she waited for permission to begin, "why didn't you bring your boyfriend with you?"

Neji, who was sitting on Kiba's right, simply closed his eyes as Sakura's jaw dropped in shock and Matsuri began to flush deep crimson. Shino sighed internally.

He should have anticipated such an occurrence. It was a secret theory he entertained that having been raised by a single mother as well regarded as special jounin Inuzuka Tsume, and following in the shadow of a prodigious kunoichi sister, had caused his teammate to compensate with excessive machismo.

Or as Ino once stated, "He's totally freaking obnoxious sometimes."

_Indeed._

"Do not feel obligated to respond Matsuri-san," he attempted to reassure her apologetically. "As you know by now, the Inuzuka carries a very immature since of humor."

"Aw, come, we're just having fun." Kiba smiled and clapped his arm on Matsuri's near shoulder twice as the young girls blush deepened at being the center of attention while Kankuro, seemingly indifferently, began putting grape leaves on his plate and passed the dish to her with an unnecessarily loud clatter.

Sakura decided to rescue her.

"Kiba, just because you can't keep a girlfriend doesn't mean you should go after Matsuri-san," Sakura said primly before a feral grin broke through. "Don't waste her time, you have no idea how high her standards are."

"Tch." Kiba responded with an eye roll as Matsuri appeared to sink into her chair and attempt to disappear. "I dated your best friend remember? What was that about low standards?"

"Ino is not my 'best friend', and you two deserve each other," she countered as she grabbed a piece of flatbread.

"You can keep that shrew, you have any idea how big the bill for that date ended up being?"

"Perhaps we should converse on another topic?" Shino suggested mildly. There ornate meal was cooling rapidly, and he wanted to try the winter melon neatly sliced on the plate beside him.

"That would be appropriate," Neji agreed, clearly worrying about how such a discussion might reflect on his leadership over his team.

"Oh, no, I want to hear this," Kankuro said evilly before practically purring, "I remember Yamanaka Ino."

The tone in that statement had Matsuri looking to Kankuro curiously while Sakura made a face like she eaten spoiled kimchee. She needed to divert this quick.

"But that's just one bad date." That resulted in a huge payoff for me. "It isn't nearly as interesting as what happened when that merchant tried to arrange a marriage with Tenten," she said.

Shino noted Neji's face going carefully blank as he discretely took a bite of desert fowl. He was sure it would avail him not.

"Yeah, we never did get the full story on that," Kiba said turning to the Hyuuga. "On our last mission to the Rice Country we saw the guy. He was still green and warty and still walking funny." He snickered. "The local kids were calling him Frogman."

"What did this Tenten-san do?" Matsuri asked eagerly, leaning forward over her plate of greens.

"Simply dissuaded a suitor," Neji replied succinctly before calmly sipping his tea.

"She did a lot more than that!" Kiba declared with a grin full of toothy fangs. "But that's what you get for trying to get married, right Shino?"

"For me the topic is academic. I am already married."

Had there been any crickets nearby, the chirrups would have echoed in the silence. He felt his eyebrows nit together over his shades in annoyance.

"I'm kidding." He turned his hooded head so Kiba would know he was glaring at him from behind his opaque lens of his goggles as Kankuro burst out laughing and Matsuri tried to hide her giggles behind her small hand. Kiba rolled his eyes back into his head at being punk'd.

"Why would I not inform you of such a momentous decision?" Shino demanded peevishly. _Honestly_.

Neji sighed to himself as his medic nin's poorly smothered laughter came out in strangled snorts over her falafel. It was going to be a long evening.

*****O*****

The speed of their movements over the dunes created a breeze that cooled the skin. The sun was rising to its zenith in the sky reflecting brightly off the paler colored sands of the northern reaches of the deserts.

The northern extremes of the dunes slowly gave way to the hard packed dust of the open wasteland. The first of the stubborn scrub brush that grew in the baked earth would be at their feet soon, and within eyesight was the sparse and scrubby grass that marked the beginning of the steppes. Past that was a thin strip of green, arable land that was nourished by the snow melts before the sheer vertical cliffs and dagger like peaks of the mountains that marked the border with the Earth Country looked darkly on the horizon, casting the land in view in an unrelenting rain shadow.

The streams of snowmelts that came off of the forbidding range descended underground and flowed beneath the sand towards Suna, only coming up to breach the surface once.

"Here's where it gets bad," Matsuri called out to the squad as she leapt lightly from one patch of whispering, shifting sand to the next. "Remember, the river shifts all the time so you have to pay close attention to spot new pits."

Although the team had carefully reviewed maps and been briefed on how to spot the quicksand pits before leaving the Village, there was no such thing as too much caution. The Quicksand Oasis was in fact numerous shallow pools of water over quicksand, a few deeper pools over more quicksand, and even a few spots only marked by a slight darkening of the grains by lurking moisture. A few stubborn plants and several large boulders left behind by a long since melted prehistoric glacier completed the scene.

Neji hesitated to use his Byakugan due to the painful glare reflecting off the dwindling sands, instead using his normal vision and maintaining a steady flow of chakra to the soles of his feet should he overlook a patch of quicksand. Fortunately, there was no wind today to throw up grit and impeded ones vision.

Matsuri, who was in the lead, vaulted with practiced ease from one patch of solid ground to the next until she arrived with a graceful landing on one of the most prominent boulders, a splash of turquoise among the limitless stretch of brown and tan.

"This boulder is right in the middle of a solid spot," Matsuri explained as the other shinobi and large nin dog landed on the rock beside her. "From here you can see the whole Oasis and the occasional game trails." Matsuri looked back and forth on the ground nearby. "Doesn't look like there are any right now," she observed.

A few quick words of organization and the squad spread out to search through the treacherous terrain.

Neji scoured the surroundings, the material of his distinctive Hyuuga robes fluttering as he jumped from one patch of solid ground to the next. He scanned the ground for footprints, chakra signatures, or any lingering marks from jutsus. The Oasis had been investigated thoroughly earlier, but as the most unguarded possible source of the illness, and especially one tied to the original source of outbreak, it was paramount to carefully analyze everything. The constantly changing nature of the landscape made the task both easier and more complicated; long term jutsus would be destroyed unless they were maintained, increasing the possibility of detection, yet cleverly concealed jutsus would leave even less of a trace.

He could see Kiba and Akamaru investigating one of the larger quicksand pits. The large hound was as near to the edge of the water as he dared tread, and Kiba was using chakra to walk onto of the thin film of water.

"Got something."

Kiba reached down into the pit, soaking the sleeve of his light jacket, and pulled up a heavy chain, at the end of which was a metal box.

"Looks like one of the nomads boxes," Matsuri called out from her location a couple of pits away. "They live on the steppes and keep some of their perishables in the cold waters here."

Neji funneled chakra to his Byakugan, scanning the box carefully. The team had been told by Baki before departing that the nomads of the steppes were an autonomous people who had little interest in the business of Wind or Earth. "Did you send anyone to speak with them?"

"Yes. The nomads were actually mildly offended that we thought they would have any knowledge of such things and not mention it to us in Suna. We have trade routes through their territory that they appreciate for the flow of goods and information," Matsuri was confident in her information, her expression certain. "They don't care about our politics, but they do try to maintain friendly relations. They also see us as allies against the occasional bandits that go after the caravans and their tents."

The team had been told of the bandits as well; ne'er do well riffraff, far too unsophisticated to be behind the illness.

The box was full of berries, and carefully designed to be totally waterproof. It was not what they were looking for. He looked at Kiba to communicate his conclusion and the chuunin lowered the box back into the pit as Akamaru began to carefully look for odd scents near a different quicksand trap.

"Has there been a change in the water table recently?" Shino called out from his perch on a smaller boulder rooted in another part of the oasis, his grey coat blending in perfectly.

"Not really," Matsuri called back. "This is the time of year when the major snow melts are finished and the flow of water goes down." She was watching Shino kneel down to get a closer look at something. "Is that what you mean?"

"Then the edges of this rock were previously submerged," Shino observed, a note of concentration in his voice. Neji instantly turned his whole focus towards the bug user. Shino's tone suggested he had discovered something of interest.

"What have you got, Shino?" Kiba called out as stepped back onto solid ground.

"The locals insects have dug under this rock where the soil has recently dried. There is a pattern of chakra on the underside of the rock indicative of a seal."

Neji sent chakra to his feet and powered towards the boulder with enough force to send sand flying in an arc behind him. He landed on the rock and focused with his Byakugan until he found the pattern being carefully excavated by Shino's bugs as they tried to uncover the entire pattern for him.

A series of intricate curves and curls were clearly visible, etched into the rock, practically glowing with the amount of chakra pulsing through them. He quickly committed the pattern to memory, memorizing the complex layout.

"That is definitely a seal," Neji confirmed. "A strong and active seal at that."

"Really?" Matsuri gasped as she landed awkwardly beside him. The boulder had limited level surface area. "It's on the underside rock?" That is weird a place for a seal. "Is it in the water still?"

"Yes," Neji and Shino answered simultaneously.

"The water has only receded enough to uncover one fifth of the seal," Shino continued.

"A seal of this type would not require total contact with the object of effect to maintain its activity," Neji finished, the slight frown marring his face unavoidable while discussing the topic.

"Wait," Kiba called from a patch of solid ground across from the rock, "the seal is acting on the water?"

"Incoming!"

Neji grabbed Matsuri by her shoulder and yanked her with him as he threw himself away from the rock. The series of rocky projectiles he had detected on the outskirts of his Byakugan slammed against the boulder, shattering the top of it. Shino, who jumped in the opposite direction, rolled to his feet and pulled out a kunai. On their other side, Akamaru and Kiba dodged an up-thrust through the sand from a subterranean boulder.

Earth style. Rock nin. At least two, chuunin or better. Try to capture one alive for interrogation.

Neji focused his vision through the Byakugan towards the direction of the original ninjutsu as he and Matsuri landed in the dust. Releasing her, he found the glimmer of chakra supporting an illusion. The enemy was blending in with the terrain. They were undoubtedly intimately familiar with terrain, and may have had time to evaluate their four-man squad. They were at a tactical disadvantage.

Best to be efficient and follow they plan they had put together before arrival in the event of an ambush. Neji hurled a handful of shuriken towards the glimmering veil.

"There!"

A moment later, using their clan ninjutsu, Kiba and Akamaru crashed into the sun-baked earth in a geyser of dust and debris, and Neji saw two shadows jump from the impact point. No shinobi captain would place all his units in one location. There was at least one more. Where were they?

A movement underground. Suddenly he wished Sakura had come along on this excursion. Following the path of his opponent tunneling through the earth, Neji set up a trap, trusting Kiba and Shino to follow the others while Matsuri watched him for cues.

*****O*****

Shino immediately dispatched his swiftest allies to locate their opponents. Judging by his movements, Neji was tracking an underground foe. He made no signals to suggest there was a third potential threat other than two pinpointed. He followed Kiba with half his senses while keeping an eye out for any unnoticed dangers.

The Inuzuka and Akamaru were herding the two ninja dodging their repeated bombardment back towards the center of the oasis. A moment later, the sound of a large detonation reached his ears followed by a strangled yell.

Neji had found his target.

Shino calmly watched the two unknown shinobi circling towards him as they dodged repeated impacts, when one veered away, narrowly missing being impaled.

Shino blinked as he realized the movement was not merely to escape the assault. He Konoha nin disappeared in blur of motion and grabbed onto their Suna guide by her upper arm.

He pulled Matsuri out of danger as another barrage of spears made from rock slammed into where she had been standing, her eyes on Neji and not the danger. She squeaked in dismay and twisted to look at him as they landed outside of the impact zone.

"The color of your uniform draws attention," Shino informed her calmly, and saw her pale in realization. "You are the easiest target, be more watchful, focus on not being harmed."

Matsuri, embarrassed, nodded her head rapidly.

Shino returned his attention to the shinobi who had attacked them, standing precariously on the thin film of water over a quicksand pit. The man was panting; his jutsu was taking a toll on him. Shino narrowed his eyes behind his glasses as he noted the man was not dressed in the uniform of a Rock nin. He directed his gaze towards the hitai-ite on the unknown ninja. He felt a single eyebrow rise in inquiry.

"Matsuri-san," he said firmly, drawing her attention. "Do you recognize that hitai-ite?"

He felt her weight shift behind him as she leaned forward for a good look over his shoulder as the man began a new set of seals. She stiffened.

"No way," she breathed in surprise. "Shino-san, that's-"

She was cut off as they threw themselves backward to dodge a fresh assault from rock surging up from the exploding sand beneath their feet. As they landed a safe distance away, a familiar voice boomed in his ears.

"Yeah baby! Now we're getting somewhere, Shino!"

Kiba chased the second of the two nin, who had been attempting to attack Shino and Matsuri from behind while they were distracted by the first, into a stretch of well-concealed quicksand. The second nin floundered in shock, and was immediately beset by a snarling Akamaru.

In front of them, the first nin, still facing Shino and Matsuri, started to move to a new position and stumbled. His feet were partially sunk into the water and the suction of the sand below continued to pull. Panic swamped his features, face blanching visibly.

"Your chakra is being drained," Shino calmly informed him. The time the foreign nin had spent stationary had finished him. Waiting to set up his trap with his partner had given Shino's destruction bugs time to converge on their designated target. "Soon you will be unconscious." It was a simple fact. "Surrender or die."

Outside of his field of vision Shino heard a sharp yell from Neji, one of frustration, followed by an unfamiliar voice shrieking:

"Retreat! Go!"

Instantly, Shino was using a burst of chakra and propelling himself towards the nin being drained of chakra by his allies, only to see the man's hands blur through a different set of seals. A wall of solid rock burst upwards from the ground in front him, blocking Shino's path. A heartbeat later the nin's chakra signature had vanished.

He heard a series of muttered oaths as Kiba approached him from one side. His opponent had also successfully disengaged, but Akamaru was carrying a section of torn armor in his slobbery maw, and appeared quite pleased with himself. Neji wasn't far behind.

"They knew of the Byakugan." Neji was speaking through gritted teeth. "As soon as I set him up for Juuken, he bolted."

"Clearly, we were more than they anticipated encountering," Shino noted.

"Who were those guys?" Kiba asked, swatting at sand clinging to his pants, as aggravated as Neji at loosing his target. "I've never seen that insignia before."

Matsuri shifted uncertainly as she looked out at the desert that covered the retreat of their attackers. "Those hitai-ite were from the Gold Country."

*****O*****

Sakura sat at her desk in her room, her fingers threaded into her hair and her mind viciously milling the evening's revelations. Her teams return to the Village after the desert reconnaissance had resulted in an emergency meeting that had left her head spinning. She had been summoned from the hospital to find the entire team, Baki-san, Kankuro-san, and the Kazekage himself seated in the main conference room.

The news of the attack itself was surprising, by the allegiance of the foreign shinobi, even more so.

"Gold Country?" Sakura echoed. She hadn't heard of the country since her classes at the Academy.

"Definitely," Matsuri said, nodding her head emphatically. "No doubt."

"The former Gold Country was divided between the Wind and the Earth during the treating signing at the end of the last shinobi war." Neji turned to Baki. "I was unaware there were any remaining factions attempting to restore the former government."

"There aren't, at least none that have made themselves none in over a generation." Baki's worn face was thoughtful, his dark gaze internal as he considered the implications.

"I do not wish to impede the proceedings," Shino interrupted, "however; I would like to know more about the Gold Country. I am not certain the overview we received at the Academy will be sufficient for the current situation."

"Yeah, what he said," Kiba added, looking perplexed.

"The former Gold Country was at the border between our Country and the Earth to the north," Baki informed the foreign shinobi. Sakura saw Kiba lean forward over the conference table to hear better. "The country was surrounded by the mountain range and wind blasted wasteland on three sides, leading to geographic isolation. It was rich due to the abundant gold deposits that gave it its name, but a small minority held the wealth. Without resources, the population remained small, and the country depended upon mercenaries for protection because it's own nin were so few.

"When the war broke out, the Earth Country tried to conquer and absorb Gold Country, and the small country hired our shinobi for support." Baki sighed slightly, as if reflecting on a dismal memory. "At the end of the War, as part of the peace agreement between us and the Earth, we divided the country. The Earth took the majority of the country including it's mines, and we accepted sovereignty over the southernmost extreme, where our nomadic allies live, in exchange for maintaining access to the trade routes and passes through the range.

"But," he continued, "even though the government was dismantled, a few of the members of the lower class who had suffered during the war but never shared in the Country's wealth began a guerilla effort against the Earth forces." His eyes darkened. "They were crushed in months, and not heard from again."

A moment passed in the hall as the information was absorbed. Kiba asked the natural question.

"Why did they comeback now? What do they have against Suna?"

"We're going to have to find out," Kankuro said, his cynical eyes unusually focused. He looked to his younger brother. "Gaara, I want to take out another party as soon as we're done here."

Gaara, who was expressionless and calm, slid his eyes over to the puppet nin and nodded. He turned his eyes to Matsuri. "The seal?"

"Neji-taichou and Shino-san provided this replica," she pushed forward a leaf of parchment inked with an intricate seal. Sakura leaned forward to get a closer look. "Baki-san has already had copies sent out for analysis."

"Do you have copies of this pattern in your archives?" Shino asked Baki.

"Perhaps," he responded, and Sakura waited for the 'but' she could her coming as she scanned the seal. "But we have no one left in Suna who is a true master of seals." The admission seemed both embarrassing and shameful for the proud guardian of his city. "I'm sure our teams will do our best, but the head of the Squad didn't seem hopeful. The seal was unfamiliar, possibly unique to the lost Gold Country."

Sakura felt his concern as well as his unspoken statement. There may be no way to decipher the seal. Without cracking its code, there was no way to know its exact purpose, how it worked, or even if it was booby-trapped. Examining the seal on the original rock would be both tricky and dangerous. There was also no way to improve understanding of the rare seal if proved unprecedented.

"Gaara-sama," she said, and the Kazekage turned his whole face towards her to listen. Part of her noted that was odd. Usually, he just shifted his eyes. "I would like to write to Tsunade-shishou and include a copy of the seal for review by our own experts."

Gaara nodded his ascent, not moving his eyes from her face as he did so.

"Kazekage-sama, if I may," Neji interrupted, turning his white eyes to the Kage, "the Hyuuga clan has extensive knowledge of the Gold Country shinobi from the time in our history when we were adjacent to the nation."

Sakura felt her eyes widen in recognition. Before the first Hokage founded Konohagakure, the Hyuuga lands were in the northwestern portion of the Fire Country. If she could say anything for the Hyuuga, they were meticulous in the study of the shinobi arts. They would certainly have detailed records in their private clan libraries.

"I would like to write a letter to my clan, bearing the seal, asking for permission to have it compared to our acquired information," he finished. Sakura could almost feel physically what he left unsaid. Few collectively knew more about seals than the Hyuuga clan, and for terrible and horrific reasons.

"Permission granted," Gaara rasped. He smoothly turned his head with the blood colored hair to look at the only medic nin present. "Do you know of any way the seal could be responsible for the illness?"

"I haven't heard of anything like this," Sakura responded honestly, her mind rapidly going through the vast amount of medical knowledge she acquired over the years. "Seals have never been used for illness. Chakra can't be used to cause disease, and even if it could, there is no way to either maintain that much chakra, or control it over such a distance."

Every word was true, and yet she couldn't help but feel there was something else she couldn't think of. She just could not think of it! Mentally, she growled.

They had been dismissed to their various tasks. She had returned to the hospital and told Tetsubin-sensei and Temari-san what had been reported and discussed in the meeting. To say Temari had been furious at being bed ridden while they were under attack was an understatement, and she agreed with what had been concluded; Kankuro needed to head into the desert with a team to hunt down the foreign shinobi while the Sand's few knowledgeable shinobi worked on the copy of the mysterious seal.

After checking in at the hospital, she come back to her quarters to think. Her head was pounding. Somewhere in her mind, the answer was there. Blood rushed around inside her skull, roaring in her ears and triggering a migraine.

There was no way to control chakra over a distance like that, and no way for it to cause illness, it just didn't! She was sure if she consulted face to face with Tsunade-sama she would agree. Her temples were throbbing. What was she not seeing here? That seal had to be involved in Suna's troubles, but how?

Genjutsu could strike at a distance, but that was simply using chakra to manipulate blood flow to cause illusions by preventing or forcing overwhelming oxygen levels in the brain. If that were a body wide phenomena in the infected, they would know.

Also, chakra couldn't cause physical damage at that distance. Very talented medic nin could wield the chakra scalpel meant for surgery as a weapon, and of course there was the Juuken of Hyuuga, but that was at very close range. Elemental and medical chakra could only be focused over a short distance before it dissipated into natural chakra.

She snorted to herself. There was just no way. She rolled her head on her shoulders, trying to loosen tight muscles. The only time she had ever heard of something like that was…

Green eyes shot wide open. The knowledge slammed into her consciousness so hard, it was like a physical impact in her skull, pitching her forward in her chair as she sucked in the breath that had been knocked out of her.

She knocked her chair over as she scrambled to her feet, her sandals digging into the stone floor as she ran towards the door to the corridor.

"Neji! Matsuri-kun!" she yelled as she slammed the door open, pink hair whipping through the air as she turned her head rapidly left and right.

"Neji! Shino! Kiba!" Where the heck were they?

"Sakura, wha-" Kiba didn't have time to finish his sentence as Sakura appeared in his face.

"Kiba! I know what's happening! I know what the disease is! How it's moving!" The dedicated medic was almost vibrating with energy.

"Sakura, I can barely understand you. What are-"

"KIBA!" the massive strength of her chakra surged into her flexing hands as she grabbed the lapels on his jacket and pulled him to her, an angry grimace on her face and fire blazing madly behind her eyes. "I've solved it, stupid! Get everyone and meet me at the hospital!"

She flung him the direction of Shino's room and took only a step down the hall before seeing Neji striding towards her, accompanied by a bleary eyed Matsuri sporting a bad case of bedhead.

"Neji! I understand! I know what the illness is, how it's moving, how to stop it," she declared as a slightly disoriented Kiba rapped his knuckles on Shino's door.

The Hyuuga, ever composed even in the face of an almost wildly excited Sakura, narrowed his eyes in concentration, taking in her every word. "Are you certain? What are we to do?"

"Yes!" Sakura declared with such conviction Matsuri flinched from it. "I've got it. I need to see Tetsubin-sensei right away and talk with Gaara-sama right now." She began leading Neji and the bewildered Matsuri down the hall towards the hospital.

"_Sakura!_"

Kiba's cry, hoarse with terror, had Sakura spinning on her heel and sprinting back to him at the door without thought. All the blood in his face was gone and his expression was twisted in horror.

She ducked under one of the strong arms braced on the jamb as she looked into Shino's room, and only training in the bloody flood of combat injuries allowed her to keep her cool.

Blood was trickling in rivulets off of Shino from seemingly everywhere, pooling onto the floor and spreading in ghastly stains through his clothes. He was on all fours in agony, where his scattered allies, scrambling in confusion or dying, surrounded the crimsons puddles.

Shino's goggles had fallen from his face to land in bloody puddle with a splatter, revealing his eyes. It was a horrendous time for Sakura to realize he had the most beautiful, almond shaped hazel eyes she had ever seen.

"Sakura," he croaked, blood streaming down his face, into and from the mouth heaving for breath. "We're sick."

*****O*****

End Chapter

Preview of Upcoming Chapters

Shizune scrambled to keep up as Tsunade strode purposefully down the hall, geta clacking sharply, the paper flapping lightly in the breeze she created. Her apprentice had almost caught up with her when she stopped cold in the middle of the hallway.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune gasped breathlessly. "What does Sakura's letter say?"

She peered over Tsunade's shoulder to see a figure clad in white, looking completely at ease. She couldn't see Tsunade's face, but she could almost hear the barely suppressed sneer in her voice.

"Danzou."

*****O*****

His expression was glacial, and only another Hyuuga or a talented jounin would have caught the haughty disdain in his eyes.

"Hinata-sama, you ask this illustrious council to deign to grant aid to a member of the Branch Family who is failing in his duty to represent this noble clan and bear the shame that would follow acknowledging this failure," his words were almost whispered, his voice silky, yet tremendously heavy with subtle reprimand and disapproval. "Explain to us, why should we bear this indignity at your request?"

*****O****

Shiho blinked puzzledly behind her glasses as she raised her eyebrows in confusion. A seal expert? Who? There weren't many to begin with. Was Hokage-sama recalling Jiraiya-sama? But he could be anywhere and how long would it take him to get to Suna and wasn't he supposed to be in hiding anyway and…

A figure landed lightly in the frame of the open picture window behind the Hokage's desk. Gloved hands braced themselves against the upright portions of the frame while the person pivoted her hips to keep her bent knees pointed modestly to one side. A breeze caught the tail of the tan trench coat, causing it to flap and flutter, and the sunlight reflecting of the dark hair was almost as bright as the cheerfully fanged grin on the kunoichi's face.

"'Sup?" Anko greeted.

*****O*****

The tail end of the jutsu caught Sakura as she finished her last handspring; knocking her from the rock she had aimed for as her grip was forced loose. She twisted in the air; automatically attempting to right herself, to bring her feet beneath her, as the force sent her crashing to the cave floor. The uncontrolled fall terminated in a painful impact onto the broken and jagged rocks of the floor below.

Gaara watched her crash with pure jade eyes, hard and cold. Rough sand curled in whispering tendrils, softly asking to seek opponents with razor sharp susurrations.

It was rare occurrence these days when he and the Shukaku both wanted blood. He shouldn't waste the opportunity.

* * *

AN: Hello, my wonderful readers! Man, this is a beast of a chapter.

Next week, instead of a Friday update to this story, I will post the second of the two side stories addressed in the dinner scene. The first one is Tengo la Camisa Negra and is already up on my profile. The next story, about Tenten, will be posted next Friday. Chapter 5 will be up the Friday after that.

Gaaras1Girl gets the credit for the upcoming scenes preview. It is a thank you for the awesome reviewing she does. Every single chapter!

I am very grateful for any reviews I get. I genuinely appreciate the feedback. I find it invaluable and it keeps me inspired.

Review if you like it!


	5. Wind and Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 5

Matsuri was curled up in a chair outside of the room that held Shino, a miserable ball in the middle of the bustling hospital hallway. The rush of activity of the people around her only caused her to curl further in on herself. The chaos was the direct result of Shino's arrival and Sakura's emergency summons of the Chief Medical Officer and Gaara-sama.

The bug shinobi had been bleeding all over the place. Sakura-san had darted into his room without hesitation and come out carrying him over in shoulders in a show of strength that left the genin astounded. The medic had run with him as though he weighed nothing, splatters of blood flung out behind them in a morbid wake. Kiba had been dead white but he followed immediately after as Neji-taichou cleared the way.

Matsuri had stared horrified, almost on her tiptoes, at the blood soaked insects scurrying blindly before flipping onto their hard shellbacks and going still. It was deeply shaming when she realized it took Neji-taichou two tries to get her attention.

"Matsuri!" Harshly.

She jerked towards him, green with nausea, but immediately sobered up as he glared at her mercilessly, the killer in him clearly visible. She shrank as she heard him bark his order. "Find the Kazekage and bring him!"

She nodded rapidly, cringing, and clumsily spun around to crash into Baki-san. She tilted her head up to see his grim expression, and suddenly felt insignificant. His deep base was neutral, and somehow that hurt worse than Neji-taichou's outright anger.

"I will get Gaara-sama. You stay out of the way."

It had taken time to gather her nerve to get to the hospital, and she still hadn't faced her sensei. The more she had time to reflect on her behavior, the more despicable she felt. Shino had been nothing but polite and friendly to her, even risking himself to protect her during the skirmish at the oasis when she hadn't been unable to find the enemy on her own. She hadn't contributed a thing to the fight; she didn't even have time to pull out her jouhyou.

In return, she had been just short of a snob, only tolerating his presence because she had to as a shinobi. It wasn't like she hid it well. No shinobi worth their salt wouldn't see through how fake she'd been. He'd even been dying on the floor and the bugs he worked with to survive distracted her, avoiding them more worthy of attention.

On the other side of the smooth sanded stonewall her back was pressed against, Sakura-san was rapidly explaining the situation to Gaara-sama and Tetsubin-sensei now that Shino was stabilized. 'Stabilized' the nurse exiting the room had told her impatiently, not better. She had been carrying a handful of bloodied bandages. The hospital had run out of supplies like sanitary disposal bags along time ago.

Hopefully, Shino-san wouldn't need that much more gauze either.

*****O*****

"Incredible." Tetsubin-sensei was amazed as Sakura told him of all that she had come up with while contemplating in her office before discovering Shino had literally fallen ill. Her theories were able to explain everything from the absences of a detectable pathogen to the odd perturbations in the chakra of the infected. The doctor was awed by her conclusions and latest speculations, and everything such occurrences would imply if confirmed. "Has Neji-san dispatched his letter already?"

"Yes. Immediately after dismissal," Sakura confirmed. She was going to write her own letter to Tsunade-shishou at the first opportunity.

Tetsubin-sensei had been in the hospital even at this ungodly late hour, tirelessly working on solving the puzzle of the illness. The dark circles under his eyes and salt and pepper stubble on his chin proved he hadn't been home in a while, yet he was already prepared to dedicate another day to exhausting work.

She hadn't yet finished stabilizing Shino before Tetsubin-sensei arrived and he had immediately began assisting her. Sakura had never had so many small cuts and continuous tunnels of damage outside of shrapnel strikes following the detonation of an explosive. That didn't include the time she had to put into cleaning out the corpses of the allies that had expired before Shino had realized something was terribly wrong and given the command for all of them to exit.

Without his allies to work with him, Shino was in agony. The natural anesthetic was gone, leaving him to feel all the pain that accompanied being riddled with channels. The full intensity of the raw pain attacked his nervous system. The numerous entry and exit points were opening and bleeding, leaking blood freely, soaking his clothes and weakening his taxed body. It was amazing to her how stoically dedicated he was, not making even one sound of pain, to allowing her to work as efficiently as possible. He hadn't complained as she rushed over the Suna rooftops, and lied perfectly still as she forced healing chakra into his system to repair the damage.

It was only when she and Tetsubin-sensei stopped the bleeding and closed the most painful channels did she realize what she had revealed when she had removed his ever-present heavy coat. Who knew Aburame Shino wore his hair in shoulder length dreadlocks?

Once the attending nurse's received the confirmation, she pulled the curtain to give the patient, sedated, some privacy as Gaara came into be informed of what Sakura had found. The stoic Kazekage entered the room clothed in a maroon uniform she had never seen before, and wearing an expression that brought up disconcerting reminescences of their time in fighting for their lives in the forest.

Tetsubin-sensei bowed respectfully, though Sakura still felt his apprehension.

"Haruno-san," Gaara was as brief and direct as ever, his rough rasp was still unfailing soft. "Baki-san has told me you have discovered what this illness is?"

"My understanding is incomplete pending information from Konoha, but I have the fundamentals for certain and we can begin to counter this." Sakura quickly launched into her explanation, only marginally aware of the dangerous changes in chakra swirling behind the dark expression of the powerful Kazekage.

"I have been treating a patient in Konoha who has been suffering from the lingering effects of a ninjutsu that struck him in the upper portion of the face during a mission to the Earth Country some years ago," she said, at once in the mindset required to succinctly relay critical information. "The injury caused damage to his both his flesh and his chakra network, permanently blinding him and damaging the chakra network beyond repair. Unlike the simple blocking or annihilating of the network normally seen, it has abnormalities like the one would expect in a person suffering damage to their blood vessels. It has caused chronic illness in the form of inflammation and infection from the continued abnormalities in the chakra network. He has to wear specially prepared bandages and come in for regular examination." She paused, letting the information soak in. "It is the unique damage to the network itself that is responsible for his chronic condition. Not the other way around." She watched Tetsubin-sensei's focused expression shift slightly to show surprise and keen analytical curiosity at hearing a case as unique as Tobitake Tonbo's. "This case shows there is a jutsu capable of causing physical damage via the chakra network, and it was used in the Earth Country."

Tetsubin-sensei's dark eyes turned inward in focus as considered what the Konoha medic had just said. Sakura knew if she hadn't been the attending physician she might have found it hard to accept herself. Fortunately, she was dealing with a very wise man.

"I take it you weren't the medic who treated initial injury?" Tetsubin-sensei inquired, correctly guessing that despite her prodigy status she wasn't quite good enough to have handled such a case so long ago.

"No, but that person has since passed." She left it at that. It wouldn't do any good to tell them she rather would swallow shards of broken glass than ask Kakashi-sensei about anything relating to Rin. "All information available has been thoroughly documented and I have studied it intensively." She turned her face to Gaara. "It's been a subject of study for a while. The jutsu was initiated from a distance, and the nature of the injury is like that seen when the Hyuuga clan utilizes Juuken."

"Raw chakra?" Tetsubin-sensei concluded aloud. "A form of ninjutsu of that type, capable of striking with chakra in its raw form, has never been documented. How was it executed?"

Sakura returned her attention to the doctor. "One person, with only hand seals, at a distance," she relayed. "It has been theorized by our medical staff that it was either an experimental jutsu that proved to dangerous to use, or even a bloodline trait since it has only been seen once."

"Were your reconnaissance teams ever able to discover more about the shinobi who used the jutsu?" Tetsubin-sensei asked. "Was he a Rock nin?

Sakura shook her head, not knowing for sure. "The origins of the shinobi were never confirmed. They were assumed to be Rock nin." In hindsight, the assumption had probably crippled the investigation.

"Then it is reasonable to assume the remnants of the Gold Country have a jutsu capable of causing injury, possibly modifiable to resemble illness, through use of chakra from a distance," Gaara stated, and Sakura nodded sharply. That was exactly what she had reasoned out just before they had found Shino suffering.

"Yes. The fact that Shino's allies, who feed upon chakra, succumbed as well is more strong evidence to support this." She didn't have to say aloud what they all knew. Anyone who was a medic or cleared to be granted the rank of jounin knew enough about ninja medicine to know illness-causing chakra would be undetectable. It was the perfect explanation to why no one had been able to find the pathogen. However, they had yet to answer how this seal was moving such truly massive amounts chakra. It was well established that a seal of the right type could pass large amounts of chakra through it, such as when Tsunade-sama summoned Katsuyu, but that was in the form of a spirit creature. What the source was, and how it held raw chakra, was yet unknown.

If the injuries caused to Tobitake-san were an early version of the jutsu being used in Suna, or at least from a similar origin, then the seal would be a means to store chakra in large enough amounts to cause illness. Exactly how the chakra maintained it's integrity while moving through the water from the oasis to the well near the tenements was not explainable yet, or how exactly the chakra behaved like an illness, but the information that could be received from the Hyuuga and possibly the study of Shino's uniquely vulnerable allies would give them more insights. The final mystery was whether or not the two group of shinobi were in fact connected and why these shinobi were targeting Suna.

Tetsubin-sensei echoed her thought aloud. He turned to look down to the Kazekage from his superior height. "It would help if we could know why we are being targeted, and how the group of shinobi from years ago are connected the Gold shinobi who placed the seal."

Gaara's black ringed eyes, a permanent reminder of the biju he jailed, perpetually draining the sanity from him, were glinting with undeniable malice, and Sakura had to force herself not to flinch. The grate in his normally raspy yet pleasant voice made the back of her neck prickle.

"I will have the answer to that shortly."

*****O*****

Kankuro stood in the small interrogation room, sequestered away in the bowels of the Kazekage's Tower. The room was carefully sound proofed, and seals were permanently adhered to all four walls, the floor, and ceiling to insure nothing escaped or penetrated the isolated chamber.

It was a good thing, too. Considering the mood he and the others were going to be in, any passersby might be terrified if their chakra leaked out. His initial suspicions regarding the decline in requests for escorts to accompany the northern caravans had shifted from a secondary concern to crucial piece of information.

He leaned back against the wall, the black cloth of his uniform blending in so that he melded into the dusky shadows of the dimly lit room, as he collected his thoughts. The instances of bandit attacks along the northern caravan routes had decreased significantly in recent months. Accordingly, some of the merchants had no longer wanted to pay for shinobi and had switched to their own personal guards for their sole protection. The changes in bandit activities had been under investigation, but the emergences of the illness had put a stop it.

Kankuro wanted to ram a kunai through someone. He never would have suspected the two were connected. The decrease in petty banditry and a major pandemic months apart wouldn't have appeared to have anything in common to anyone. It was only when one of them drew attention to himself with his ridiculous attempts to find out if the Konoha shinobi would discover the connection did Kankuro revisit the schedule of requests, and give his findings to Gaara.

The brief meeting following the Konoha squads return provided new information required to recognize the true reason the bandit attacks on the northern caravan routes had gone down and justify a warrant. He was certain Gaara and Baki-sensei would take care of it themselves, but he wanted to be here for this before he returned to the field. Watching this guy sweat, squirm, plead and beg might satisfy him long enough to not crush his skull on sight.

That might be frowned upon.

The chuunin guards at the door, grey and shadowy in the dim light, were just visible past the frame as Baki-sensei hauled the man in. The burly jounin was almost dragging the terrified merchant, the coward so terrified he couldn't even move himself under his own powers as he shook uncontrollably, making the ostentatious gold chains on his neck jingle.

The Spice Baron cast at petrified glance at Kankuro as Baki released him to collapse into the interrogation chair situated beneath the single faint lighbulb. The man whimpered audibly. Kankuro's eyes narrowed and his thin lip lifted in a sneer, overcome with revulsion.

_You ain't seen nothin' yet._

The richly robed merchant jerked in fright when the door closed to the small chamber beneath the earth with a sharp click.

Kankuro stepped forward, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. "You call yourself the Spice Baron." He could barely speak past his contempt. "You no longer even sign your name on any of your documents, just that alias." The self-proclaimed baron had the gall to pout. Kankuro nearly rammed a kunai into the top of his skull then and there. "Feel you deserve a title, huh?" The hiss in his voice made the merchant shrink back.

The merchant mumbled something then. Kankuro heard a tremulous muttering about "important to this community" and "bear this indignity". He really wanted to just kill this guy. He decided to get to the point before the interrogation cell was filled with slime from splattered guts.

"You took advantage of the fact that requests for shinobi escorts are reported in groups, rather than by individual petitioners." The merchant blanched, beads of sweat appearing on his pasty double chin. Getting it now, kisama? "Our administrators didn't notice the drops were along one particular route through the northern desert. One that you travel exclusively. How strange that bandit numbers haven't decreased in the desert, nor have the raids lessened among the nomads or other routes, just the hits on shipments tied to you."

The plan took far more cleverness than Kankuro could see in this sniveling cushion warmer. Someone else had to have been behind this. The shipments had been carefully distributed so that it wasn't obvious the attacks decreased for a specific merchant.

A twisted grin slit across his face as he thought about what was coming next. "Funny, huh? Bandits suddenly stop attacking you along a route that passes close by an oasis were a squad of shinobi on a mission for the Kazekage recent found signs of enemy activity linked to the recent epidemic." Kankuro leaned forward, looming over the trembling wad of silks. "Know what else? They were ambushed." He tilted his head playfully. "Betcha know something about it."

The man was a hopeless imbecile. He sucked in a breath and actually tried to defend himself. His voice was high and nearly whiny.

"You can't prove anything! This all speculation." He huffed and panted, on the verge of hyperventilating. Pathetic. "I'm a man of unquestionable integrity!"

Over his head, Kankuro noticed one of the paper seals placed on the ceiling to contain chakra began to smoke at the edges, clearly on the verge of overload. Kankuro tapped his index finger against his palm lightly, a pre-agreed upon signal. The orange embers faintly glowing on the seal faded, and the curls of black smoke ceased.

Kankuro's small never broke. This was going to be fun to watch. "Maybe not yet. But my brother wants to speak with you. You know my brother, right?"

Kankuro moved to stand by his old sensei, who was quietly guarding the door from the inside.

The pasty merchant swung his head back and forth, his gaudy jewelry rattling like cheap toys around his neck.

Gaara stopped suppressing his chakra. The full weight of killing intent dropped like the weight of steel chains and razor wire on the merchant. He squeaked in terror, rendered completely impotent, and the acrid smell of urine reached Kankuro's nose.

The Kazekage stepped into the dim circle of illumination, blood colored hair obscuring his eyes. He had changed into the maroon robes Kankuro had dubbed his "work clothes", and wrath seeped out of his every poor like miasma.

Kankuro found himself grinning like a schoolboy.

"Tell me everything you know about the situation on the northern routes," Gaara rasped quietly, malice dripping like venom off of every soft syllable. "How you meet them, how long you have been involved, and what you are getting in return."

The man sniveled pitifully, his lips trembling so badly his words were difficult to decipher. "I'm not paying off any bandits! I swear!"

"I don't think you are." Gaara's cool tone had the merchant weeping openly. "You wouldn't be so desperate to hide something that simple. You are involved with foreign shinobi." His eyes, still expressionless from years of repression, were as cold as that of the murderer he was. "You made an agreement to keep your silence, to not mention the activity at the oasis. At least. The link between the Quicksand Oasis and the well for the former Immigrant Housing is not information shared lightly. How did they learn of that?"

The way the man cringed and hiccoughed suggested that was at least partly accurate.

Gaara was unmoved. "Answer me."

The merchant, panicked out of all logic and rationality, swung his head violently from side to side, blubbering, "I don't have to say anything without a lawyer! I want my lawyer!"

Gaara didn't flinch. "For your crimes and treason in a time of crisis, I can execute you whenever I choose. It is the right and responsibility of the Kazekage to protect the Village."

Kankuro felt like rolling his eyes. It was amazing what people forgot when they got rich and complacent. This glorified cockroach was a threat to the Village and he thought he was going to get a cushy trial while surrounded by streets littered with dead bodies. Right.

"Baki has already obtained documents from your estate while you were in the holding cell. Although, your refusal to provide full cooperation during a time of crisis would be enough to declare you guilty. " Gaara paused to let that sink in. "However; I want information from you first. Allow me to make myself perfectly clear."

With one hand, Gaara grabbed the front of the man's gaudy attire beneath his throat and lifted him off the chair into the air. "My Village, my people that I swore to protect, are being killed because of your actions. My only sister is dying." He never raised his voice, but that seemed to make the merchant even more terrified. "I haven't seen enough in this world to convince me there is a Heaven," he rasped quietly, "but I'll show you why I have no doubt there is a Hell."

*****O*****

Akamaru had been allowed into Shino's hospital room without question. None of the staff would refuse a nin dog entry to wherever he needed to go. His heavy head was laying forlornly on crossed his paws as he lay beside the bed, his sorrowful mood matching that of his master. Kiba was slumped over in a chair next to the bed, as motionless as his sedated teammate.

After Sakura had worked herself into sheen of dripping sweat stopping the hemorrhaging, she had recommended Shino be put in an induced coma to minimize the spread of what she had declared tainted chakra through his system. The wounds had been closed up, but the damage the jutsu would do combined with his system reeling from the loss of the symbiotic insects would send him right into a rapidly worsening downward spiral. He was stable for now, but despite the nurses' efforts to remain positive the risks were unmistakable. None of the other infected had a system like Shino's, and the shock of losing his allies plus the tainted chakra meant his teammate could crash at anytime.

Kiba was numb. His limbs felt heavy, like lead stuck to a torso made of wood. Their time as Team 8 meant they had seen numerous potentially deadly threats together. Despite their unique skills, they were still a reconnaissance team, and that meant they were the ones who had to go into an unknown situation to gather information to pass on to Konoha. Their team had had more of their fair share of close scrapes, sometimes seemingly saved only by Kurenai-sensei's experience and skill. Not even when Hinata used the entirety of her supply of balm to try to save him from the painful burns he'd earned from a near miss with an explosive tag until Kurenai-sensei rushed the team to a medic nin dispatched to meet them did he feel as sick and afraid as he did now.

Shino looked so different it was almost like he was sitting beside someone else. He had never seen Shino in anything less than the level of coverage his clan was famous for, bundled in a heavy coat and eyes hidden behind dark lenses. To see him laying naked on the hospitable bed, the nurses had said they had run out of gowns, covered only by a thing hospital sheet, was… just wrong. He was so exposed.

He was dead pale between the lack of sunlight exposure and blood loss. The face normally safely concealed behind his families garb was completely unshielded, his mouth tense with pain and his eyes squinting against the brightness of the hospital lights in even in his sleep. Kiba could also see numerous line of congealed blood that marked where his family's jutsu cost him his very body.

Kiba clenched his fist against his leg and wished he were close enough to the pristine hospital wall to punch it in anger. He was not going to lose his friend this way. He wasn't! He was clenching his jaw so hard his teeth hurt. How could he go back and tell Kurenai-sensei and Hinata he lost Shino? Go back alone and look them in eye to tell them he was coming back solo? And Shino's parents, oh _kami_…

"Shino, I'm not doing it." He forced his voice out past the lump in his throat. "I am not going to your mom and dad and telling them you're dead!" He shouted the last word, daring the fates to take him up on it. "You're not doing this to me!"

Akamaru sat up on his furry haunches. He lowered his head into Kiba's lap and whimpered in distress, not knowing exactly why his master was so upset, but painfully affected anyway.

Kiba tiredly put one hand on the hound's head, scratching him on his favorite spot behind his ears.

He tried not to sniff. Crying wasn't going to do a thing.

*****O*****

Shizune darted into the doorway of the Hokage Tower so fast she left a flutter of papers in her wake as she raced past piles of forms and reports that sat on the nearby desks. As a kunoichi, stamina and endurance were central to her occupation, yet the short dash to the Tower from her apartment had left her feeling winded.

She had been awoken by Hagane Kotetsu from the office. Instantly alert and knowing his early morning arrival meant there was an emergency at the Tower, she had raced towards Tsunade's office less than a heartbeat after Hagane finished his rapid message.

"A message from Sakura-san marked Top Priority and using your personal ciphers just arrived by the Kazekage's fastest eagle."

Shizune used chakra to maintain traction on the wood floor as she skidded around a bend in the hallway just as the first rays of brilliant morning sunlight shone brightly into the corridor. Just as her fingertips stretched out towards the door, it burst open from the inside, sending the chuunin guards diving for cover.

Tsunade-sama, her lifelong friend, mentor, the famous healer who was going to marry her uncle and become her aunt, came striding out of her office, a message scroll in her hand.

"Shizune! Come with me!" the Hokage barked out the brusque order as she moved at a sharp clip down the hallway, not wasting words or movement as the older of her two students struggled to regain her composure.

Shizune scrambled to keep up as Tsunade strode purposefully down the hall, geta clacking sharply, the paper flapping lightly in the breeze she created. Her apprentice had almost caught up with her when she stopped cold in the middle of the hallway.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune gasped breathlessly. "What does Sakura's letter say?"

She peered over Tsunade's shoulder to see a figure clad in white, looking completely at ease. She couldn't see Tsunade's face, but she could almost hear the barely suppressed sneer in her voice.

"Danzou."

The Elder stood unassuming in quite in the hallway. One arm resting in the makeshift sleeve of his plain garment, leaning heavily on his walking staff as he regarded the Hokage from a face marred by battle scars.

"Tsunade-hime," he greeted politely, the picture of cordial behavior, appearing completely benign in simple robes and permanent bandages. "I assume this unpleasantly early hour has soured your temper for you to greet me in such a manner unbefitting of someone of your station."

_Oh, Tsunade-sama please don't punch him through a wall…_

"Cut the crap and tell me why you're here," Tsunade snapped, gold eyes flashing with fury at the shady village elder. "This is not a time for politics."

"I would not be so vulgar as to waste your time needlessly," Danzou replied civilly, totally calm and unruffled. "I merely hoped to catch you early, wishing to have a meeting about the reported troubling issues facing our allies in Sunagakure."

Inwardly, Shizune winced. The fact the Danzou knew about the situation in Suna could only be an ill omen. Tsunade was going to have to deal with his meddling on top of everything else there was already. Shizune made a mental note to contact Mitokado-sama and Utatane-sama to see if they could keep him busy.

"Not now," Tsunade responded bluntly. "I will get back to you when I have the time. You know who to find for an appointment."

With that, the Hokage brushed past the seemingly tranquil veteran and Shizune hurried after her. As she brushed past Danzou, the dark-haired healer felt an icy chill slither down her spine.

*****O*****

A family of birds was twittering amongst themselves as they began their day. Their songs from the nest they had built in one of the trees in their mother's garden came filtering through the shoji into the small room as easily as the fresh morning air.

The room was cool and shady, cleanly swept and simply decorated. Normally, it was used to practice ikebana, and when used for such a purpose the shoji would be open to allow the participants to view the carefully cultivated blossoms of the peaceful courtyard for inspiration.

Hinata tried her best to block out the pleasant sounds of happy avian chatter, and instead focused on speaking around the marbles currently crammed in her mouth.

"Therefore, in light of the outlined concerns, I conclude it would best to pursue a more peaceful resolution."

That hadn't sounded so bad. She thought she got through the oratory at the proper pacing that time.

"Very good," came the confirmation. Hinata smiled awkwardly around the marbles.

Her patient yet no nonsense Aunt Hotaru had been helping her with her stutter every morning they both had time available in their schedules. When possible, Hotaru diligently drilled her in speeches and sometimes tongue twisters to help her gain control of her words. Her mother's sister had taken it upon herself to help her eldest niece and future Clan Head to improve her public speaking, a crucial ability in any person in a position of authority. The retired kunoichi, who still wore her dark hair in the bun she had kept it up in while on missions, had a somewhat unorthodox approach to speech therapy, and it had taken Hiashi's change of heart following Neji's defeat in the chuunin exams for her to get permission to attempt to help Hinata.

Her trick of placing marbles in Hinata's mouth and then having her recite famous speeches forced the young chuunin to focus on getting the words out correctly. The physical obstacles in her mouth and constant practice and the same series of words had worked wonders. Her ability to speak in formal settings had improved dramatically with hard work and her therapist's careful direction and strict regimen, improving her confidence as well. She still had trouble expressing her private thoughts though.

"That was perfect, Nee-san," Hanabi said approvingly. The younger of the two sisters had attended as many of her sister's sessions as possible to observe and cheer her on. The Third Hokage's famous speech at the end of the war with Cloud had been the longest oratory yet.

A polite tap of knuckles on the interior shoji door had the three paled-eyed women looking to the door.

"Enter," Hinata acknowledged. Hanabi, who was farthest from the door, leaned forward in her seiza position to see around her older sister, her espresso colored hair falling forward around her shoulders. Although she exercised the perfect manners expected of a Hyuuga when in public or formal functions, she never followed rules of decorum of private unless she had to. Since the chakra signature on the other side of the rice paper wasn't their father, she couldn't care less.

The door slide open smoothly to revel their cousin Kou, Hotaru's son, kneeling politely, dressed in his chuunin uniform since he was on duty unlike the women who wore their pale Hyuuga robes.

"Hinata-sama, a letter has arrived for you from Suna," he reported with professional efficiency.

"Neji-nii-san?" Hanabi said automatically. She jumped up to her feet and quickly crossed the tatami to get the letter her cousin held out.

"Hi, Mom," he said as Hanabi took the letter.

"Hello, do they have you busy today?" Hotaru replied, smiling lovingly.

Hinata spat the collection of marbles into her hand, glad she was in private since there simply was no way to spit marbles into one's hand elegantly. Hanabi settled down cross-legged beside her and held out the letter so they could both read it.

_Revered Clan Heir Hinata-sama,_

_I write to you in this informal manner concerning a matter of greatest urgency. I write this to you and not to Hiashi-sama as this must be addressed as swiftly as possible, and letters to you are not investigated for content after it is insured the message is not booby-trapped, as you know. I worried a letter to Hiashi-sama might be considered a lesser priority by ones of his secretaries._

_The information I pass to you is of great value and must be shared with the greatest discretion. A recent encounter with rogue shinobi revealed them to be from the defunct Gold Country._

"See that, Nee-san?" Hanabi whispered in awe.

"I do." Amazing.

_They have been using a seal to cast a jutsu on the water that feeds a well in Suna used by the group of people where the epidemic we have been dispatched to help fight in Suna originated._

_The seal is not familiar to the specialists in Suna. I have been granted permission by the Kazekage to write this letter to request information on this defunct country from our Clan's private libraries._

"Oh, no."

Hanabi breathed out her horror in less than a whisper. Hinata understood completely. An epidemic in a Hidden Village? No wonder the details of Neji-nii-san's mission were classified. Naturally, she had asked her father upon his return from his conference with the Hokage-sama about the mission her cousin was on. She had been proud to hear he had been appointed Captain, barely able to contain her desire to congratulate him, but had become concerned when her father apologetically informed her no more details were legally permitted to be shared with anyone other than the Clan Head.

_I, Hyuuga Neji, Konoha jounin in service of the Fifth Hokage, request that all information related to seals, charka manipulation, or any other pertinent topics that can be found concerning the Gold Country be sent to my squad on a mission in Suna by order of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade as soon as is possible and with all haste._

_Please, Hinata-sama. I saw this seal and these Gold ninja with my own eyes. We need the information in the archives desperately. You have to convince the Council to release the information to us. I don't know if we can be successful without it._

_Eagerly Awaiting Your Reply,_

_Hyuuga Neji_

_Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, in service to the 10th Clan Head, Hyuuga Hiashi_

"Nee-san," Hanabi said, her eyebrows arching up into her hair line, "can you really do that?"

Hinata didn't have to ask her sister to clarify. Convincing the Council to give up what they considered valuable secrets to freely move through Suna and possibly out into the general world would be a difficult task. Changing Clan policies to be fairer to members of the Branch Family was one thing, but revealing knowledge, a ninjas most formidable weapon, was an entirely different matter.

Helping Neji was an absolute. She absolutely would not leave her cousin, Shino and Kiba, and Naruto's Sakura to face a deadly disease without her help if she could be of even the slightest use, let alone an essential source of aid and support. She would die of shame if she did anything else, unable to live with the knowledge of failing her teammates and friends in such a way. She suppressed a shudder at finding out exactly why the team had been sent to the desert.

The elder sister blinked, and closed her pale eye for a moment as she considered.

"Hinata-sama?" Hotaru inquired politely, though clearly expecting an answer, having been distracted from her conversation with her grown son by her two nieces' odd behavior. She Kou were both looking at her and Hanabi.

The chuunin filtered through her knowledge of Clan politics and traditions, carefully analyzing her most recent memories of the interactions, behaviors, and attitudes of the Council, determining how receptive they would be to the idea of sharing such a precious resource and how best to phrase the proposal. It was going to be incredibly difficult to convince them, to get the majority necessary to gain permission to share what were considered just shy of true clan secrets. She would require more help and as much preparation as possible, all in a very narrow window of time. She opened her eyes, resolved.

"Hotaru-obasan," she said, looking across the austere room to the retired jounin. "I need your help with something important. We are going to have to involve Father as well."

*****O*****

The normal chaos of couriers and workers rushing through the stone corridors of the Kazekage Towers was thickened with the number of messengers and valets preceding the arrival of numerous wealthy citizens of the village. Among the desert colored uniforms of shinobi and simple clothes of the civilian personnel were spots of gaudy and offensive bright colors and ostentatious metallic adornment. The noise of scuffling feet, flapping papers, raised voices, colliding bodies and colliding interests created a discordant mess of sound from the doorway forward.

Baki observed the madness from the safety of a narrow hallway to a locked stairwell guarded by chuunin charged with insuring no unauthorized persons slipped by in the confusion. The last thing they wanted were servants from self-important noblemen succeeding in making it to the basement. They may see nothing, but that didn't mean they wouldn't lie spectacularly and say they did if that's what their master wanted to hear. Or ordered them outright to claim.

The Village Council may have turned a blind eye to the sick and dying slowly wasting away just outside the edges of their estate walls, but news of one of their number being snatched by ANBU in the dead of night had them instantly ready to act.

The wildly gesticulating group of messenger sent to express their masters' outrage squabbled and squawked like a group of fussy hens and with as much of an awareness of dignity. The lifelong soldier of the village didn't need to lessen to the jabbering to know exactly what was being conveyed. The Council was no doubt worried and frankly scared. Gaara-sama had been exceedingly lax in exercising the more fearsome aspects of his powers as Kazekage, and now many of they were panicked, believe the monster in him was taking control and influencing his to be tyrannical and brutal. The more shortsighted were probably concerned about having their avarice curbed. No doubt they were demanding an emergency meeting of the Council to, they probably thought, admonish Gaara, temporarily forgetting they were all hopeless cowards.

A particularly loud-mouthed messenger faced off against the chuunin at the hallways end, puffing out her chest and acting as if the sash she wore that showed she was employed by a particularly arrogant old fart meant she had enough rank to pass. Baki got the foolish girl's eye, and pinned her with a black scowl usually reserved for S ranked missing nin he had tracked down. The girl squeaked and immediately retreated into the churning mash of humanity behind her.

Baki sighed on the inside as he maintained a face of stone and wondered how it had come to this. He began to wonder vaguely if The Siblings decision to completely forsake Suna had been as heartless of a decision as he had thought.

Although The Siblings had made it perfectly clear the had no wish to be involved in Suna's affairs and he taken up the life of hermits, the depth of knowledge, skill, and experiences held by the former medic nin and general Chiyo-baa-sama was too valuable to not make an attempt to convince them to return.

Temari, Tetsubin-sensei, himself, and a collection of high-ranking jounin had made the trek to the isolated hermitage. After walking through the relentless desert sun over a path of carved stone, Temari had lead the entourage into the coolness of the cavern. Inside the large cave was a natural spring, not connected to any of the other water sources of the area. In times long past, before the settlement of the Village, travelers had carefully carved out and modified the cave into the resemblance of a carefully constructed to sanctuary of white stone containing a pool of crystal clear water. The location had been maintained as something of a shrine to years past, and The Siblings live there quietly, enjoying their self-imposed isolation, and showing little tolerance for visitors.

Baki and the others had waited outside as Temari entered the room that held the large pond, hoping she could speak with The Siblings if she showed due respect. Temari had respectfully and demurely made her way into the white-walled cavern, stepping lightly and leaving both her tessen and her sandals at the doorway to chamber. Folding gracefully at the knees, she had settled into seiza and quietly waited for acknowledgement by the two revered shinobi sitting across the spring from each other.

She was going to wait a while. If there was anything the two could do, Baki decided it was to sit and nothing quite happily.

The young kunoichi sat through the increasingly awkward stretch, while Baki and Tetsubin-sensei exchanged nervous glances at each other. The tension in the air began to build.

Temari, hoping to get a dialogue started, cleared her throat as loudly as she dared. No response. The two old shinobi, weathered and wrinkled, continued to stare into the pool and soundly annoy the newcomers. Baki heard a jounin behind him suppress a sneeze.

The silence stretched. Baki could sense his former students mounting impatience. Temari delicately cleared her throat again, adding more force. There wasn't so much of a flicker of movement from the The Siblings. Ebizu-jii-san burped softly.

"Yay!" the old women croaked gleefully. The fishing pole she held in her hands twitching as a small fish swimming in the pond tugged at the line.

Her brother groaned in surprise, his tremendously thick eyebrows twitching in excitement, as the old woman engaged in a battle of tug of war with the little fish. The visitors watched in disbelieving silence.

"Oh, foo!" The line flicked up out of the water as the little fish escaped from the hook. The squat old women extended a wrinkled hand a picked up the line, moving the hook to her eyes to squint at it. "Got my bait, too!" she complained grumpily in voice made creaky by advanced years.

"Better luck next time, nee-chan," her brother huffed.

"Excuse me," Temari said almost neutrally, and her former sensei bet if he was able to see her face, the vein on her temple would be standing out in sharp relief. "I don't want to interrupt your fishing-"

"Then don't. Go away."

"-but numerous innocent lives are at stake," Temari finished, ignoring the interjection from the decrepit old kunoichi. "We have desperate need of your aid, Chiyo-baa-sama. She bowed her head to the stone floor, the metal plate on her hitai-ite scarping against the white rock. "If you do not help us, there may be no hope. We are desperate," she continued earnestly. "We beg you to hear us out."

"No."

The reply was short in no uncertain terms, as if she were merely answering a question about weather or not she wanted dinner. She busied her old hands reattaching the bait to her line. It was clear she didn't plan to say anything else. Ebizu-nii-san didn't say anything at all.

"Chiyo-baa-sama," Temari sat upright again to argue with the old woman. "Please listen to us before you make your decision. We-"

"Have nothing at all I care to hear." The old woman flicked her wrist and the hook broke the surface of the water with a small splash. "I am no longer involved with what happens in the Village. We have passed that burden on and will not take it up again."

Her voice was emotionless. Fully apathetic. Baki felt his heart sink and noticed the change in Temari's posture that showed she felt the same. The old woman simply did not care. And at her advanced age, there was no way to convince her.

From behind him a voice called out. Baki recognized it as belonging to a newly promoted jounin whose wife was ill.

"It's a disease! A plague, Chiyo-baa-sama!" The voice was desperate. "You're a healer! You can help us."

"Still your problem, not mine."

The fish were biting today. There was another tug at her line.

"Yay!"

*****O*****

Her father's office was very similar to the rest of the compound in that it was quiet and austere. The décor was simple and tasteful, meant to be of aid during meditation and conducive to calm and maintaining focus. The small side room was one of the many chambers of the master wing of the house, and one few members of the Main Family, and none of the Branch Family, with the exception of Neji-nii-sama, saw.

Hinata, Hanabi, and Hotaru sat quietly on the kneeling mats as Hiashi considered them, his features collected and contemplative. He had been surprised when his sister-in-law appeared at the door to his office, bowing respectfully and formally requesting an audience on behalf of his elder daughter. Rarely did Hinata fully engage in the rituals and customs required of the heir. Her decision to have her aunt request a meeting with such serious observance of tradition could only mean she found the matter of utmost concern.

Internally, he was proud that she had found the will to make such a stylized overture. Her chronically low self-esteem, a suffering caused by his badly misguided attempts to make her stronger, something he dared not ask forgiveness for, had been recovering as of late. He knew part of this was due to his own efforts to change how he treated his own children and his brother's only son, but it was also due to Hotaru's effective strategy's for helping her control her stutter.

"Hinata," he spoke calmly, "please tell me what is you wish to speak with me for?"

Hinata bowed briefly, the blue-tinges in her long hair catching the light filtering through the open window to her parent's private garden. She sat up again and regarded her father, kneeling on his own cushion behind his work desk, who was yielding her his full attention.

"Father," she began steadily. "I have received a letter from my cousin Neji-nii-sama from his mission in Suna."

In the private room with his close family, Hiashi raised an elegant eyebrow at the news his nephew had deliberately went around him. _Interesting._

"Within it, he divulges critical information regarding his mission he shared with the full knowledge and consent of the Kazekage," she continued confidently. "He has strong reason to believe the mission cannot be completed successfully unless he has access to information contained exclusively in our family archives."

Most interesting. Such a letter and request would have likely been delayed and then caused in uproar in his administrative assistants before he received it a Neji had accounted for this. "What is the nature of the information and how much does he require?"

If his daughter had expected rejection she hid it well. Pale violet eyes met his calmly. "It concerns our family's knowledge of the jutsus and seals of the former Gold Country." She continued resolutely even though he was sure his surprise at the announcement was visible. "A seal was placed by shinobi from the old Gold Country, and it is believed that this seal is behind the illness in Suna the squad was dispatched to fight. He requires everything we have that may be useful in understanding the seal and the jutsu.

"He also encountered Gold shinobi personally, Father. He would not have made such a request if he wasn't certain."

Hinata didn't hesitate once as she spoke. It was an impressive improvement. The father in him reflected on her progress even as the Clan Head in him considered the many nuances of the situation he was presented with.

Both Neji and Hinata were fully of aware of just what an allowance they were requesting when they asked for such guarded information, and in a potentially hazardous situation where it would be shared with another Village. Even as Clan Head, the release of the information when there wasn't an immediate threat to either the clan or Konoha as a whole had to be approved by a majority vote during a clan meeting with at least 80% attendance. Getting together the meeting in a short time would be possible, but annoying to the members of the Council, placing them in an uncooperative mood from the commencement of the meeting. Convincing the older members to release the information would be difficult considering they would see it as being potentially harmful to the clan, and rightly so. Furthermore, they would consider asking for aid in any form as sign of failure on Neji's part, doubly shameful since Neji was appointed the captain. There was the additional lingering hostility regarding his training Neji personally in defiance of tradition. Many of the older members would argue this was merely another display of egregarious favoritism.

An entire Hidden Village succumbing to illness would be disastrous in terms of international stability, not to mention the horror of so many lives lost, but the restrictions placed on who could be privy to this information prevented him from sharing how desperate the situation was in Suna with the other clan leaders. Even insinuations would flirt with violating the law. He could not share the key information that would explain why Neji would do something that suggested incompetence and risked his honor.

There was also, of course, the danger to Neji himself as he risked increasingly lengthy exposure to the place of infection, but the council was not cleared to know of this danger to a member of the clan either.

Hiashi considered his daughter in front of him. His brother's son must think highly of her to entrust the letter to her care. An idea flittered through his mind, as fragile and insubstantial as a butterfly, and yet…

Someday, she would be the Head of their clan, with all of its faults, sins, and shames to bear. Being the Head would bring new situations wherein terrible decisions made in impossible circumstances would have to be endured. At times, it would be soul crushing, to the point were fighting would seem so futile finding the strength to go on would appear to be a naïve dream.

But in the here and now, she had her determined spirit, her still innocent outlook, and most of all, a genuine love for her cousin. This was the gentlest way to introduce her to an ugly truth.

"Hinata, some members of the council already believe I have flouted tradition too much by treating Neji so highly." Hinata made no movement to show she had heard, but her focus on his words was clear. "My putting forth this proposal in his favor may have a negate rather than positive impact on any argument to send him aid when he is shouldering the responsibilities of a captain for the first time." He paused a moment, aware of Hanabi and Hotaru's rapt attention as well. He looked right into his daughter's eyes as he made his next statement. "I believe the one to make the request and arguments for access to the archives should be you."

To her credit, Hinata maintained her composure with apparent ease mirroring the self-discipline of her aunt, even though her younger sister gaped openly from behind her.

"I, Father?"

"Yes," he confirmed smoothly. "Neji entrusted this letter and the request it contains to you. Additionally, many members would not expect you to argue in his favor, and this would be the first time you had made any request before the council. Your argument would have more weight without the taint of perceived bias."

"Father," Hinata began, her mind rapidly going over every counter-argument she had ever encountered while studying with her aunt. "It is precisely my lack of experience in such a forum that would be a disadvantage if I tried to convince them to grant permission to send what can be found in the archive to Neji-nii-sama."

"This is a situation it is inevitable for you to face," he said, a soothing note in his voice, though it was completely unapologetic in its statement of fact. "As Clan Head, you will be forced into situations that will force you to make decisions and undertake actions you would rather not, and sometimes abhor." For the first time, lines of dismay appeared around her pale eyes, although it was not for herself that she felt it. "Frequently, far more than should be, the lives of members of your clan and family will depend on your ability to lead, to make arguments, and influences the will of the Council." He paused. Hinata listened quietly, while behind her Hanabi closed her eyes and hung her head.

"We cannot reveal to the Council the nature of the mission without violating the laws regarding the sharing of information concerning classified missions. We will have to use other tactics. Hinata." He reassured himself he had her full attention, and that she fully grasped the gravity of his words. "As long is Neji is on this mission, there is a chance he could succumb to this disease. Whether or not Neji even lives may depend on how well you present your case at Council. There is a significant chance you will be arguing for his life."

*****O*****

Shiho swiped with frenetic hands at her bird's nest of pale hair, hoping to arrange into some form of dignified order before she entered the office of the Hokage. She had never been invited in to the Hokage's actual office before and nervousness fluttered in her stomach. She just arrived at the Tower, the sun still glinting off her glasses with enough force to make flickering little patches of light on the sidewalk (which were chased by some happy alley cats, she loved cats, they were so cute!) as she made her way, when she was told she had been called with the rest of the team that had been digging through the archives to meet with the Hokage herself!

The chuunin who had been on duty told her Shizune and Shikamaru had already arrived, and Ibiki-san, the Commander of the Konoha ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force, had been summoned as well. Just what in the world would he be called for? Did they think someone was hiding something? Why?

No, that was silly. They'd be in the brig if that were so! They'd probably be being going through some ungodly mental torture right now! How funny.

That thought cheered her as she came to a stop before the chuunin guarding the door and declared herself.

The doors opened to reveal a room full of shinobi gathered around the Hokage-sama's desk, clearly intently analyzing something that had been placed upon it.

Shikamaru turned his head over his slouching shoulder, scowling blandly, and exhaled before addressing the Hokage. "That's her." He swung his spiky haired head back around. "Hurry up. We're waiting on you."

Shiho hurried up to the desk and, noting she was totally ignored, squashed the impulse to introduce herself. She really wanted to introduce herself to Ibiki-san. She wanted to ask him if the rumors she had heard about there being really scary scars on his head was true. If so, she really wanted to see. Not many people got to see them after all, but once he had exposed his head to an entire room full of genin during the chuunin exam, including Shikamaru! It would give her something to talk about with him. Taciturn, manly, Shikamaru…

The Hokage didn't mince words. "Sakura's latest update from Suna contained this copy of a seal and word that our shinobi engaged in combat with nin identified as being from the former Gold Country."

Shiho gawked openly at the news as she looked down at the inked parchment spread out for viewing and analysis.

"Prior to the engagement this seal was discovered under a rock in a river that feeds the water source were the illness in Suna originated." Tsunade continued on. "Sakura believes that this seal is somehow feeding raw chakra into the water supply, chakra that maintains its integrity and then acts on the system of the infected to create the symptoms of a wasting disease by taking advantages of the relationship between the chakra network and major organs. She illustrates a strong likelihood of connection between the effects of this seal and a jutsu capable of causing long term damage to the physical system via the chakra network that was used on one of our chuunin.

"Your task," the Hokage informed the assembled shinobi, "is to determine as much as you can about this seal and," she held up a second paper in a red fingernail tipped hand, "using the account of the engagement here, find connections to the jutsu from our records if there are any and use them to explain how the chakra harms the infected and spreads from person to person."

Shiho felt a little dizzy as being overwhelmed with swiftly given orders translated into a sense of vertigo. She was definitely dizzy. Was anyone else dizzy? They all looked fine. Probably not, must be her.

Oh, there was a birdy on the open windowsill behind the Hokage-sama. Look at the birdy! Oh, it flew away.

"Anyone who has any questions regarding the medical aspects of the mission is to consult with Shizune." Tsunade's commands left no room for hesitation, and her apprentice nodded confidently. She and Shizune had discussed the best approach to addressing Sakura's message all morning.

"There while be one more person assigned to your squad," Tsunade said, "an expert on seals."

Shiho blinked puzzledly behind her glasses as she raised her eyebrows in confusion. A seal expert? Who? There weren't many to begin with. Was Hokage-sama recalling Jiraiya-sama? But he could be anywhere and how long would it take him to get to Suna and wasn't he supposed to be in hiding anyway and…

A figure landed lightly in the frame of the open picture window behind the Hokage's desk. Gloved hands braced themselves against the upright portions of the frame while the person pivoted her hips to keep her bent knees pointed modestly to one side. A breeze caught the tail of the tan trench coat, causing it to flap and flutter, and the sunlight reflecting of the dark hair was almost as bright as the cheerfully fanged grin on the kunoichi's face.

"'Sup?" Anko greeted.

The kunoichi leapt down to the floor, and Shiho noticed her friendly nod to Shizune despite her serious expression. They must be friends.

"I apologize for my tardiness. Got here as soon as I could." She looked to the Hokage, who was eyeing her critically. "I read Shizune's message on the way." She tilted her head to speak out of the side of her mouth to Shizune. "I am still up to speed, right?"

"Yes."

Shiho stared at the irreverent kunoichi. She bore the signs of rapid travel on her clothes. She must have been out on a mission.

"You are up to date," Tsunade informed her shortly, all business. "Any additional information can be provided to you by your team. Now." She began, harsh, golden eyes glinted with determination. "Make this your top priority. Dismissed!"

* * *

AN: I know I'm posting this chapter a little early, but I have a final Friday and numerous other things that are going to keep me busy and I don't want another thing to remember.

So, crunch time. This is a crucial time in my research (I'm a PhD student) as I am having to make major changes and get everything in order in time to have enough to present for my oral exams in the fall. I had been simply collecting data over multiple trails, but now I am having to make fundamental alterations that while require both innovation and ingenuity that will sap my creativity. For this reason, I don't know when I will be able to work on this story again.

Thank you to all of you who have been kind enough to review. It gives me the energy to keep going with the story.

Your Authoress,

Oreithyia


	6. Hinata's Resolve

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 6

The sunlight shinning in through the open doorway of the garden to alight on the smoothly polished wood floor was soothing and warm. The rays gently passed their glowing warmth onto the delicate skin they touched. A single butterfly, pale, dusty white, was perched on the vibrant purple blossom of an iris. Beneath it, the rich green stalk of the colorful flower grew firm and strong. The butterfly carefully tilted its fragile wings to catch the dainty rays of the yellow sun in the azure skies.

Hinata absently watched the delicate creature investigate the silky blossom, searching for nourishment, consumed by her thoughts. She was struggling to find a way to shoulder the knowledge of what had just been told to her. Compassionate, pale eyes were stormy with worry, and softly pink lips were parted for breath as she breathed through the slight heaviness brought on by distress.

Neji. Kiba and Shino and Sakura. All of them in danger. All of them at risk of becoming sick and dying. She didn't even know what kind of a disease they were facing. Was it painful? How fast did people die? How many were already dead? What couldn't Sakura and the Suna medics do?

Sakura was a prodigiously talented medic. Even her father and the Council of Elders spoke well of her when her name came up in relation to clan business.

Hinata had known Sakura since they had been together in Suzume-san's class at the Academy before they were old enough to advance to the gender integrated classes. Sakura was highly intelligent and very softhearted. Hinata could remember when the pink-haired girl would breakdown and cry, actually cry in public, in front of people who evaluated her. Something unthinkable for a Hyuuga.

She had become catty as she had gotten older, and obsessed over Sasuke like seemingly every other girl who didn't know what living in an insular clan was like, what it did to how one thought and how one viewed others.

Then the Uchiha massacre occurred, and the pedestal Sasuke was placed on by the Village Council, the invisible barrier placed around him as something special, made the naïve behavior even worse.

For Hinata, not being placed on a team with Naruto had almost broken her heart, and she found herself resenting Sakura at first. Her ingratitude at being placed on a team with Naruto, someone so inspirational and deeply devoted to her, was painful to watch.

Naruto was always so optimistic. Everyone expected him to fail, even hoped he would fail. Suzume-san had been careful to pay attention to all of the girls in her classes, encouraged all of them. If she thought any of them were hopeless, she hid it well. It wasn't the same for the shinobi who taught the classes she had shared with Naruto. He knew so little and had no apparent talent, yet he kept trying and kept on smiling when he wasn't having shouting matches with the faculty or Uchiha Sasuke.

She really wanted to be his friend. He and she would understand each other and practice together. She didn't like practicing with her family where there was constant scrutiny and judgment. Her father was ruthless and blunt in his analyses of her progress, and the comparisons to Neji-nii-san and even Hanabi were scathing and brutal. It was so easy to imagine that when their class was out on the training fields, and she managed to get a post next to Naruto while they were practicing with kunai, that Naruto and she were actually working together.

At home, in the closed-in cool shadows of the dojo's compound, beneath the cold evaluations of the other Hyuuga, it took so much energy just to keep going. Out in the training fields, in the bright sunshine, with Naruto beside her, giggling, laughing, boasting, and talking back to Iruka-sensei, it was so much fun she couldn't wait to go out again.

She had been strictly forbidden from associating with Naruto-kun, like all the Hyuuga youth, but she watched him from a distance. The way he laughed, the way he made self-effacing jokes and pulled pranks on everyone, the way he kept on trying again no matter how much he was expected to fail, it gave her hope. She wished so badly she could talk to him, to the person who made her try again when she failed, who unknowingly gave her the confidence to show her little sister what she knew, to try and be an inspiration to someone who was important as he was to her.

Naruto meant so much to her.

But he wasn't here. He was off in lands unknown to train under a Sanin. An incredible accomplishment that had left some of the Elders speechless with indignation and even apoplectic with fury.

Instead, she was the one who had to be strong, to find the strength on her own as he had always demonstrated. Neji said he wasn't sure they could cure this illness linked to a mysterious seal from a country dissolved a generation ago without her help. If he said that, then it was absolutely true. He would never give anything other than the facts in such a situation, free of embellishment or sentiment. The whole team, even with their combined abilities, was at the end of their options. Not even Sakura could solve this. The only chance was for them to receive the information they asked of her.

If she failed to convince the Council…

She mentally squashed the thought with ruthless efficiency; there was no room for doubt here. Her teammate, Kiba, who had tried to be the older brother she didn't have, Shino, quieter than even herself yet willing to do anything for those he considered a friend, and Sakura, who had changed so much during her time with Naruto and now was one of his most precious people. They may very well die without her help.

The butterfly, having finished its perusal of the silky, lacey iris blooms, lifted up with a beat of its powdery wings and fluttered towards the open skies. Hinata angled her head upwards to watch it disappear into blue.

She was not going to fail.

*****O*****

The shrine he had built in his wife's memory was painstakingly cared for. Although the had organized a different memorial in one of the family rooms reserved for the immediate family of the Clan Head for the sake of Hinata and Hanabi, this smaller version secreted away in his bedroom was much more personal.

The photo was one of Irori he had taken himself. It had been before his father and grandfather had given them permission to marry. Irori had been wearing a more ragged robe to dig in the dirt and mud of the garden. She was dirt streaked from wiping the sweat from her face with a muddy hand, her hair a mess and her clothes streaked with earth and grass stains. She was smiling brilliantly, having just encountered a cricket, and was trying to catch it. The mood and feeing of the photo fit his memories of her much better the formal portrait sitting in the family shrine.

Hiashi sat reverently in front of the small memorial; his shoulders slumped with the weight of responsibility. It was completely inexplicable how having Irori by his side had made all of his responsibilities feel graver, yet somehow easier to bear. He wished at a time like this that she were here to give him counsel, to let him know he was doing what was right.

Had he made the right decision in giving Hinata the task of convincing the Council to release the information Neji and his team, including her own genin cell team members, needed to complete their mission? The stakes were painfully high. Refusal would mean the deaths of people held dear and those of countless innocent strangers. There was also how the Hokage-sama would react if she ever learned the Hyuuga Clan's Council of Elders withheld information critical to a priority relief mission to a key ally as well as one involving one of her two students. The fact that Tsunade-sama had only taken on two students ever during her lengthy and storied career was a testament to how high a regard Haruno Sakura was held in by the Sanin.

Or perhaps it was merely a reflection of the lengths the veteran kunoichi took to prevent having to endure further pain from the agonizing loss of loved ones. He could empathize perfectly. There was also how Hinata would view herself afterward should she not succeed in convincing the Council when the proposal was put forth.

He wondered if his elder daughter was aware of just how much hung in the balance; her appeal to the Council would become the weight to tip the scale towards life or death. He supposed she would be focusing instead on preparing mentally and emotionally for a grueling session with her betters within the clan. Dwelling on the consequences of failure would hinder her efforts, not help them. She needed to dedicate her full attention into accomplishing the task at hand.

For this reason, he had secluded himself in his room, where there was no chance of his accidental intrusion. He looked at the smiling face in the picture frame, streaked with dirt and with a stray leaf stuck in her long hair. Irori had left their daughters in his care. So far, he had not performed the role of father in a way he felt he could be proud of. At all.

_My dear Irori-chan, have I done the right thing?_

*****O*****

The looks the hospital staff were giving her would have been annoying in any other circumstance were Sakura able to mobilize the energy to care. More than one of the doctors, nurses, aids, and messengers rushing through the hallways had given her looks that passed being in awe and bordered on fearful.

It left part of her puzzled. The hospital should have been used to the sometimes seemingly miraculous abilities of medic nin. They shouldn't be so shocked, even if she did carry in Shino as though he weighed hardly more than air. She supposed the superhuman demonstration combined with the rumors left over from Tsunade-shishou's accomplishments during the war and her recent cracking, however incomplete, of the origin of the sickness had come together as a focal point for all the stress and fears the populace had faced. It was easier to be frightened of a bizarre looking foreigner, pink hair and all, then to fear something invisible to the eye.

She came to the doorway to Temari's room and knocked briefly, noting a skittish looking nurses aid nervously watched her hand as she did so.

"Enter."

"It's me," Sakura announced herself, although she was sure Temari had been able to detect and identify her chakra signature easily.

Temari was reclining on her bed, the desk beside covered in piles of documents and more in her hands. She greeted Sakura with a friendly smile. "Here you are finally. I was wondering when you'd come to fill me in."

Sakura returned the older kunoichi's smile but internally felt her stomach sink in dreaded recognition. Temari was able to disguise weakness as well as any other shinobi, but those things not under conscious control would never fail to give her away.

Blue irises may have been bright and alert, but the jaundicing of the sclera around them could not be hidden. Sakura could conclude without hesitation what the yellowing of the whites of her eyes meant.

Temari's liver was failing.

"Yeah well, your youngest brother is demanding. Must be because he's the Kazekage and all." Sakura grinned. "Macho power trips and all that manly stuff."

"Oh geez, between him and Kankuro it's a wonder this government functions at all. They'd be nowhere without me." Temari arched an eyebrow at the thought and sported a wry grin. "Seriously, I should get hazard pay just for putting up with those two. Their Pissy Male Syndrome synchs up perfectly."

While Sakura snickered at Temari's defiant humor in the face of her own deteriorating condition, the older kunoichi's expression shifted from mirth to thoughtfulness. "Gaara kept you a while, huh?"

Sakura nodded casually. "He and Tetsubin-sensei were eager to hear my theories and underlying thought processes." Her smooth eyebrows lowered as she remembered the mood the Kazekage had been in when he departed at the conclusion of their rushed meeting. "He said he would know more about the motivation of the shinobi behind this illness here soon." Training prevented her from grimacing at the visuals her imagination presented her with. "He said there is a collaborator within Suna, a civilian, who was brought in for interrogation, but he left without elaborating."

"Not even a name? Typical." Temari, apparently unsurprised by the revelation and never one to not express her feelings fully, scrunched up her pallid face and forced out her tongue as she made a gagging sound of revulsion. "There had better be enough of whoever it is left to put on public trial after all this is over." The blonde huffed, then looked to Sakura with a calmly evaluating glance before saying her next words in a neutral voice. "He didn't say anything else?"

"Not really. We just went over Shino's condition," –she said that without flinching, and patted herself on the back a little for that accomplishment- "and how it related to my conclusions that the illness is a jutsu after all and how it might be moving."

"Gaara thinks very highly of you, Sakura, he really does," Temari interjected abruptly.

The direct statement caught the medic nin off guard, causing her bright green eyes to widen slightly. Temari's gaze was focused solely on her, watching her carefully from her seat on her hospital bed, the look on her face deeply serious. Sakura resisted the urge to gape stupidly at the unexpected words.

"I'm honored the Kazekage would deign to think so highly of a foreign kunoichi in his service," Sakura replied neutrally, trying desperately to escape the awkwardness, seeking psychological shelter in evasive political correctness. Kakashi-sensei would think this was hilarious. Jerk.

"That's not what I meant," Temari said flatly, refusing to let her counterpart dodge the issue she had no doubt she could feel being indirectly addressed.

When Sakura had been a young and flighty genin, she might have fidgeted self-consciously or tried to talk her way out of the topic, but now she simply looked away to a white washed wall for a moment, breathing in the sterile scent of the hospital ward, collecting her thoughts, before turning back to the other woman.

"I'm not sure I understand," she spoke truthfully, filtering through her memories of her interactions with Gaara and not finding anything to suggest he held her in special favor other than in terms of her professional skill and asset as a healer. Given, Gaara was the poster child for social dysfunction, but for someone who did as much people watching as he must have, surely he knew how to fake interest if he wanted to.

Unless, he was too shy. Now there was a thought. Sabaku no Gaara bashful. Unbidden, an image of the terrifying Kazekage, blushing shyly and daintily pushing his fingertips together like Hinata, entered her mind.

To save herself from permanent psychological scaring, Sakura smashed the image to bits, burned the remnants to ashes, and scattered them to the hypothetical wind.

Giving herself a mental shake, she returned her attention to Temari.

"I haven't noticed Gaara-sama behaving in any way that might suggest a special interest in me."

Temari closed her eyes and half shrugged her shoulders in a resigned gesture. "I wouldn't expect him to." She lifted her eyelids half way, her expression sorrowful. "He wouldn't know how, but I know for certain." She looked Sakura directly in the eye, blue contrasting sharply with the lurid, alien yellow.

"Gaara definitely thinks extremely highly of you. I can't even be certain he even understands what his own feelings mean, but those unique feelings for someone we would consider special are definitely there. It goes beyond simply being a 'precious person'. The willingness you showed to die defending your teammate, and Naruto-san after you, is the driving factor behind all these changes he has undergone."

Temari paused, watching Sakura's reaction as she tried to absorb it all before continuing. "I haven't asked him, but I think his fight with Naruto-san and his subsequent attempts at reconnecting with Kankuro and I and his desire to take on the role of Kazekage were and are all his way of trying to understand you.

"He reacted visibly when it was reported you were on the team sent by the Hokage-sama, and," -Temari smirked a little as she said the next part- "I've been told by my sources he watches you and has been trying to find an excuse to spend time alone with you."

Sakura stood shell-shocked. Gaara, the Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara, truly felt all those things regarding her?

The fight in the trees had been a major turning point for her whole team, consequences, ramifications, and memories from that time still too painfully raw to be objectively evaluated, but she had never even remotely considered how it had affected Gaara. She hadn't had a reason. He had always merely been a point of reference in regard to Naruto.

She could remember the ravenous, maniacal face, twisted with insanity and hate. Saliva slithered from an inhuman maw sprouting fangs and shrieking gleefully at that sight of helpless prey; a wounded and weakened Sasuke.

No thought had been necessary.

Through her dead body. After all the times Sasuke had defended her, as a teammate, then, maybe, somehow, as her friend, she would be a bloodied corpse on top of Sasuke before that monstrosity touched him.

She remember starring him down, however pointlessly, seeing a grimace as though in mental agony, and then the blow from the column of sand to her torso.

Waking up after the battle and realizing she'd been useless, and then held as a hostage, had been humiliating. She been just another person to kill to prove he existed. Insignificant. How was it he thought of her now? What exactly should she do? Temari was prompting her, but what exactly was it the other kunoichi wanted?

"How would he do that?" Sakura asked. She had no idea what Gaara did when he was off duty. Then again, he was probably never actually off duty.

Temari smiled gently and shrugged her shoulders as she looked away over one of those shoulders nonchalantly. "Well, Gaara has this little habit of hanging out on the rooftop just off the balcony along the eastern side of the administration wing to watch the sunrise." She pursued her lips and acted totally innocent.

Sakura gave a wry half smirk in return. "Got it." The expression morphed into a mischievous grin. "I'll tell you about the meeting in detail, and then I'll go see how much of that holds water and how much of that was Kankuro feeding you bull."

Temari blinked.

"What?"

*****O*****

Temari watched Sakura go after she finished relaying the details of her talk with Gaara and Tetsubin-sensei. Perhaps it was a side effect of recognizing a competent healer and an ally, but there was something about the under-sized kunoichi with the "Aim All Projectiles Here" hair color that made one feel like they could trust her.

Once she was alone, Temari allowed her posture to sag. Despite the analgesics, the pain of her infected chakra network systematically tearing away at her internal organs was getting to her.

Okay, Gaara. I did all I could for you. Don't screw it up.

*****O*****

Matsuri turned herself sideways to squeeze between two chuunin moving towards the rallying rooms in the Tower. She was jostled lightly as she couldn't quite force herself narrow enough to keep from scraping between their arms and vests as they rushed by.

Gotta find Gaara-sensei. Just follow the trail of freaked out Council members. Ah, there's one.

A man in lime green silks and a zebra skin scarf wearing enough brooches and rings to suggest he specialized in woman's jewelry had blanched fantastically and was standing stunned in the middle of the traffic. There was a hallway heading towards the Council Chambers just past him. Matsuri danced her way through the crowd in pursuit of her sensei.

The mood he was in when he left the meeting with Haruno-san and Tetsubin-sensei had made her think she should try talking to him later. It had taken her awhile to drag herself off of the chair, but moping wasn't going to help Shino-san. Besides, she needed to know what Sakura-san had found and what her orders were now. If nothing else, Kankuro-sama was going to go bust some heads that was sure.

"Matsuri-kun."

The genin kunoichi but on the brakes and skidded to a stop before spinning on her heel to see Neji-taichou coming through the crowd towards her.

"Neji-taichou." Her white-eyed captain came straight towards her, the effortless air of authority he carried automatically moving people out of his way.

Matsuri lowered her eyes as he came to stop in front of her. "I'm sorry, Neji-taichou." She kept her gaze on the ground at his feet. "I wasn't of any use during the skirmish. I just got in the way and maybe if I'd actually helped out we could have caught one of them and brought him back."

The feet in her frame of vision didn't shift. "My instructions were for you to wait for further direction from me." His voice was patient and non-chastising. "You followed your orders."

"I made a fantastic target. You and Shino-san had to take turns yanking me out of trouble."

"Neither of us is your jounin sensei. We were not as familiar with your skills and limitations as a regular team would be. You are still a genin because you do not yet have the ability or experience to face seasoned shinobi alone."

She was beginning to feel better until he continued. "You did as well as could be expected in such a situation."

_Oh, gee. That makes me feel loads better. Thanks, taichou._

"I still didn't do much." She looked off to the side as a group of couriers looked around in confusion, trying to figure out aloud where the stairs to the first floor were.

"Then we will have to take steps to remedy the situation," Neji answered. Matsuri looked back to him as he continued. "Although we have discussed your training under the Kazekage, I haven't seen the results for myself. While you were largely our guide it didn't matter, but now that we are going into combat it is imperative I know your capabilities and your limits."

Matsuri felt her mouth split into a grin, a rush of energy making her feel electric as she clenched her fists in front of her in excitement. "You mean we've been assigned to Kankuro-sama's squad?"

"Many of us," Neji answered smiling calmly. "Kankuro is organizing more than one squad. I secured permission to go." He sighed minutely. "None of us can be of help to Shino here and we have nothing to contribute to Sakura's efforts. We head north."

"Yes!" Matsuri threw her first up in triumph, nearly decking a passing messenger.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry."

"You mentioned during the investigation of the Immigrant Housing the Kazekage had trained you in the use of the jouhyou and you had passed the training evaluation," Neji stated, and Matsuri nodded her head in affirmation. "Before we leave with the other squads, I would like you to give me a full demonstration of your skill range with this weapon."

*****O*****

The last of the nin who had declared the Council Chamber clear filed out as Gaara, always entering first as the Kazekage, made his way in. Despite the many different worries, facts, and concerns on his mind, part of still managed to note how strange in felt to be without the support of his sister in this hated room.

He took seat and the head of the table and closed his eyes, expanding his senses to keep track of the merchants as they noisily entered the room and Kankuro sat down beside him. The mood of the Council was collectively smug, panicky, outraged, and as always, fearful. He had not expected any less.

He opened his eyes to notice some of the merchants at the far end of the table actually looking down their noses at the fact he had not worn his white and blue ceremonial robes to this meeting. When the last member filed in, Gaara looked askance to his black-swathed brother to signal him to call the meeting to order.

Kankuro took a deep breath and called out.

"Alright, all you idiots shuddup!"

A surprised silence settled over the room and Gaara internally reflected this was exactly why Temari came to meetings.

One of the merchants began to sputter out an indignant protest when Gaara cut him off.

"We will begin immediately." His hoarse rasp quieted the council more effectively than his brother's outburst. "I know this emergency was called to express your outrage at the midnight arrest of the Councilman who chooses to refer to himself as the 'Spice Baron'." Gaara flicked his eyes over the assembled men. "The arrest is within the powers of the Kage at a time of crisis. The evidence related to his arrest will be released in full when the crisis has passed."

"An abduction of a man from his own bedroom in the middle of the night by the ANBU is not acceptable," an older voice wheezed. "Such a member of the community deserves due respect."

A corner of Gaara's mouth turned down as the wizened man, one of their greatest opponents, continued on.

"He should have been sent a messenger in the morning to inform him of his arrest and been given time to appear at his earliest opportunity, not hauled away in a terroristic show of force."

"Tch."

"Kankuro," Gaara warned. He shifted his attention to the Council at large. "I am not going to observe ceremonial protocol when people are dying."

"That is no excuse not to observe proper courtesy. We should not let an illness affecting the unwashed masses result in the breakdown of civilization. What will we have left worth having after it has run its course?"

"You may be of the opinion these peoples lives are expendable, but I do not agree. I am the Kazekage of Sunagakure, and all of its inhabitants who look to me for protection. Anyone who uses their advantages in life to hoard even more for themselves by sacrificing his neighbors forfeits all 'courtesy'."

"Preposterous!" The outburst from the representative from the estate of the Spice Baron shouted over the flurry of denying outcries. "There is no evidence other than circumstantial evidence and you personally terrorized our Lordship into a false confession!"

Gaara vaguely felt amused that the minimized initial report released by Baki-sensei filtered out so swiftly. "It isn't false," he corrected softly as he heard Kankuro mutter, "He has them call him 'Lordship'? Seriously?"

"The Spice Baron has been cooperating with the shinobi behind this illness. We have solid evidence of this in the from of his own records, his refusal to cooperate, his confession, and this." Gaara put out onto the table a small piece of wax paper containing a shriveled herb. "Traveler's Chew. Taken in large amounts it increases chakra output, often at the expense of the users health and life. The Spice Baron has been ensuring them a steady supply by allowing them access to the fields he had a contractual exclusive right to, in exchange for them preventing bandit attacks."

Some of the Council members began looking to each other and the hum of confused voices permeated the large room. Traveler's Chew was well known as a drug used for scientific inquiry and by suicidally desperate or foolhardy shinobi, but the lack of demand meant it was nearly worthless as a cash crop. The cost of turning over the plant would be nothing compared to how much shinobi escorts would cost.

Gaara made a point to pin the Spice Baron's representative with a stare. "Your employer panicked and left evidence. Even had he not, his refusal to cooperate would have warranted execution in a time of crisis." He readjusted the direction of his gaze to let the assembly know he was not addressing the group in general. "And if you expect me to apologize for the immediacy and efficacy of his arrest, you will be disappointed. The time for patience and ceremony has past. Any more delays in name of propriety will be treated as treasonous actions under the law during a time of crisis."

The number of shocked and aghast cries was overshadowed by one common question. "And if we disagree with you at anytime during this crisis? We'll we by silenced for sedition?"

_Will you be the fickle tyrant we worry you will become?_

"It is very simple," Gaara stated calmly. "Do not impede the investigation of this plague, and," he paused to make sure they were listening, "realize, if the deaths of so many innocent people do not bother you, and you believe yourselves innocent, explain to me why your deaths should bother me?"

*****O*****

"Shizune, I know one of the first things the Hokage-sama is going to want to know is is Orochimaru involved in this." Anko said, correctly thinking that any abnormal seal would call the sick Snake Sanin to the Hokage's mind. "This definitely not his work. Way too primitive, not all his overblown style."

She had wondered why she had been recalled by Tsunade-sama after earning her tracker certification and being sent to track him down.

Anko carefully looked at the lines on the paper that had been delivered from Suna, one side of her mouth quirked downward. She couldn't fault the Suna Cipher Squad from being stymied.

"This is a Two Trigram base here," Anko pointed to the central aspect of the seal. "It's very primitive, from the beginnings of seal work. Whoever designed this seal is no genius." She shook her head. "Suna no doubt came up with that much on their own. And now, the tricky part."

She traced the circular rim of the seal with one calloused fingertip. "This, the middle wheel and the abnormal spokes." She withdrew her hand a placed on her hip. "It doesn't match up with anything I've ever seen." She looked to Ibiki, who was standing to her immediate right. "That middle transfer is negative, I'm pretty sure, but without checking the chakra movements on the original I can't swear to it."

Shikamaru, who was opposite Anko and scowling at the seal while Shizune took notes and had Shiho at the ready to open any of the reference volumes they had brought into the examination room, shifted his attention to the seal expert. "The reports from Neji and Sakura say the seal is releasing chakra into the water supply. That can be negative or positive in movement, correct?"

"Yeah," Anko confirmed still staring at the recreation of the seal. "It could have any external source and be a relay or be generating the chakra itself. These weird forms don't provide anyway to figure it out. Also," she pointed to the spokes, "these portions of the seal are completely bizarre."

Anko analyzed the final layer. They were in the shape of a trident, and the pattern of interruptions suggested a wide dispersal of chakra, not a focused flow capable of traveling cohesively through water.

"I don't recognize it either," Ibiki growled, the career interrogator irritated by his own insufficiency. "Further more, I don't recognize the framework or organization. It certainly doesn't adhere to any known formula or theory of seal construction."

"Must have been developed independently," Shikamaru concluded. "It doesn't matter how hard we research, we don't have the correct history." He heaved himself upright with a huff. "Whoever put this seal together followed an entirely different path of logic. We would have to do multiple experiments using a variety of scenarios to unwind their mechanism."

"Can we do that?" Shiho asked, her hands resting on the rough leather of an old book. "Can't we run a series of trials? At least to narrow it down?"

Anko inhaled briefly. _Trial and error, huh?_

"Not very well. To test if it is moving chakra from an outside source, we would have to know what it is. If it's creating it's own chakra…" she trailed off. If it was creating it's own chakra, wow. "To check if it's a relay we'd have to recreate the source exactly I'd bet. The early seals were very delicate and fragile and any deviation from its intended design would rupture them. There would be no way to differentiate a near miss from a total loss."

"What are the other options that we have?" Shizune asked, the administrator in her immediately seeking organization.

"Since we know the seal is likely associated with the dissolved Gold Country, we could focus on records relating to that country and the times it existed, can't we?" Shiho asked. "Maybe we could check the Earth Country, too?" She turned her bespeckled vision towards the strategic genius.

"That probably won't help, but we can try. As I said, the answers to all of this are in Suna." He looked over to the future decrytper. "Any patterns you find are likely to be coincidence, like people thinking they can treat heart disease with a plant that has heart shaped leaves. The unfamiliar aspects of the seal are too unique to be working in a way similar to any but the most basic of styles."

Anko nodded in agreement. Horses and galleons were both modes of travel, but you don't use a galleon to take a trip to the top of the Hokage Monument. But still, a shuriken in the dark was better than nothing.

"We can do some basic tests anyway, and it would be a good idea to, regardless of the final result. If we can at least rule out possibilities it will be better than what we have now."

Ibiki turned to Anko. "What should we start with?"

"The basics," Anko replied. "We'll see how effective that Two Trigrams is at holding chakra to a surface. From there, we can test how that middle layer works."

*****O*****

The members of the Council of Elders filed quietly through the open shoji, the tread of their clean white tabi against the neatly swept, freshly woven tatami were measured and quiet. One by one the made their way into the meeting room and without a word organized themselves into a perfect circle arranged in order of seniority.

Hanabi was seated outside the circle, on her father's right, as was appropriate for a member of the Main Family but did not hold a seat in the council itself. Every person in the room was an exemplary display of the stoic deportment to be displayed by a Hyuuga in all but the most informal and private of occasions; each face coolly dispassionate, as full of emotion and expression as a death mask carved of white limestone.

The last of the Council members shuffled into the room and took his seat. Once he settled himself into the proper posture, Hanabi mentally counted to five, and on cue her father spoke.

"I have asked that all of you, the esteemed members of the Council of Elders, come to this unscheduled meeting to discuss a proposal of grave importance." The words were even, cool, and devoid of emotional inflection. The epitome of Hyuuga propriety. "I wish to express my gratitude at your individual and collective willingness to attend on such short notice and in the absence of sufficient prior explanation. I ask that you indulge me again in listening to the previously mentioned proposal and regard it with a full and complete consideration before casting your vote."

Normally, at this point in the meeting Hanabi would have already been bored out of her mind. Even mundane issues such as whether or not to switch stalls were the paint to touch up the front entrance to the compound was bought was treated with this same level of gravity. She would almost prefer boredom to how her stomach was knotting up in anticipation of Hinata getting her chance to speak.

There was no way this was going to go well. _You can do it, Nee-san._

"I now will yield the floor to the originator of the proposal, the Clan Heir Hyuuga Hinata."

With their father's final words, the council redirected its attention to the young woman politely kneeling in her customary place at her father's right. Hanabi noted most of the members kept their astonishment and/or disdain well concealed. Some of them were really obvious when it came to how much they scoffed at Hinata's lack of standout battle prowess or what they saw as a shameful speech impediment.

"Honorable members of the Council of Elders," Hinata began, immediately switching to the type of voice and tone she had been practicing with Hotaru-oba-san, "I have come before you today to request your aid in alleviating a situation most dire. I humbly implore you to give my proposal and its supporting arguments and evidence an honest evaluation even though I am not permitted to divulge the entirety of the facts surrounding the situation that has caused the situation to arise.

"I have received a communication from Hyuuga Neji who has been dispatched on a mission by the Hokage-sama to Sunagakure no Sato on a mission of highest priority, the details of which have been largely classified, by the order of the Hokage-sama herself. In this communication, Hyuuga Neji has requested information contained within the clan archives for use in the successful completion of his assignment."

The shift in the mood of room was as obvious as if a cry of shock had went up from the assembly. Surprise and dismissive doubt had been replaced first by curiosity, and now by shock, bewilderment, and from some, undisguised outrage. Hanabi tried to get a measure on what fraction of the council felt how. She was relieved to note a sizable number were being open-minded, very skeptical, but open-minded to the unusual request from the clan member noted for her weaknesses at speaking.

Other members seemed ready to toll their eyes and get up and walk out. _Morons_.

"Hinata-sama," a voice spoke form the gathered Hyuuga, the tone not quite condescending, could you elaborate upon what type of information it is that is being requested to be remove from the safety and secrecy of our prized and valuable archive?"

Hanabi knew that voice. Hyuuga Hikage, a clan member so ugly-tempered and bitter he made the old Neji seem like a cheerful lover of cuddly stuffed teddy bears and sparkly unicorns.

He was almost always an opponent of their father, if for no other reason to cause strife, and was a firm believer in the superiority of the Hyuuga and saw any that didn't meet his personal standards as shame to be disposed of. Kou had once told her than when Hikage had heard of the horrible Uchiha massacre, he'd gone out to celebrate.

"Of course," Hinata replied evenly to veiled challenge. "There is strong evidence suggest that a jutsu that has it's origins in the history of the now defunct Gold Country is heavily involved in the root problem the squad was dispatched to address. There is insufficient information in Suna to allow for the determining of the answers that are needed. Neji believes the missing information can be found in our clans private libraries, and has requested the all information relating to the Gold Country and their jutsus as recorded in our archives be forwarded to him for use in successfully completing his mission."

Now the bad part. Hinata had to keep her clansmen from convincing the rest of the Elders from considering Neji's request for help as a sign of failure. Hikage was going to make it easy.

His expression was glacial, and only another Hyuuga or a talented jounin would have caught the haughty disdain in his eyes.

"Hinata-sama, you ask this illustrious council to deign to grant aid to a member of the Branch Family who is failing in his duty to represent this noble clan and bare the shame that would follow acknowledging this failure," his words were almost whispered, his voice silky, yet tremendously heavy with subtle reprimand and disapproval. "Explain to us, why should we bear this indignity at your request?"

All attention refocused itself on Hinata, a combination of open interest and subtle dare. Some of them were just waiting for her to fail.

"Hyuuga Neji has made it clear that the situation is anomalous," Hinata replied smoothly, focusing on her words at keeping her speech clear. "He and his team, which include the apprentice of the Hokage-sama, Haruno Sakura, have been working with the Kazekage himself. He has taken a risk, as all of you will recognize, in writing a letter than acknowledges a Hidden Village is facing a crisis, and secured the explicit permission of the Kazekage to do so. The Kazekage would never have allowed such a letter to be written if it were not a strict necessity.

"Additionally, all assembled here know the rarity of the accounts and observations detailed in our clan's archives. It is entirely possible that the information required can be found in our library alone and can be independently discerned.

"This is not a failure, this an honest request of collaboration with his own clan. Neji's own strong sense of honor and the Kazekage's desire to protect his people would not have allowed them to risk shame and exposure by writing this letter if their were any alternatives available.

"We owe it to Neji, his team, and our allies in Suna to provide them with this critical information in this extraordinary circumstance so that the crisis they face can be brought to an end."

Hinata ended her explanation and Hanabi again tried to gauge the mood in the room. While their father was still keeping his thoughts to himself, every bit as expressive as a plank of wood, others in the room seemed to be considering the argument. They all knew Neji-nii-san would not do something like this carelessly, and would be extremely cautious and judicious with disseminating the information sent to him. The could also trust the young Kazekage, whose Village had to be in genuine peril for him to contact Konoha in this manner, would be cautious with it as well. Now was not the time for him to sabotage relations with his nearest ally.

While most members of the Council quietly weighed the pros and cons of the situation in their minds, Hyuuga Hikage decided to open his mouth again.

"I see no evidence to support these claims you make," he countered in a near hiss, his colorless lips moving so subtlety it was almost though he did not speak at all. "You ask this council of wise and honored members to reveal treasured and guarded secrets for the sake of one who cannot succeed on his mission with the team chosen for him specifically by the great Hokage-sama, and with, I would humbly suppose, the entirety of the resources of Suna at his disposal. If he cannot succeed under such favorable conditions, then I conclude he cannot properly lead his team, or, and possibly additionally, the Kazekage does not truly trust him and has not given him full cooperation. In such a case, the Kazekage either views him as unworthy of full cooperation, or as an opportunity to gain excess to our rare records."

"My knowledge of the situation leads me to believe that could not be further from the truth," Hinata answered immediately, refusing to be bullied. "I know all members of the team personally and they are not such fools. If the impossible had occurred and Neji was deemed incompetent, the rest of the team would have taken steps to account for that. Furthermore, the information that I cannot share with you the assures me the Kazekage is no position to spare any mental resources towards trying to gain information on a defunct country from out of the archive." Hinata stared her opponent in the face, and Hanabi internally smiled to herself. "Reputations, history, and practical concerns are all the evidence you should need."

"Do not presume to tell me what I should and should not consider in coming to my own decisions." Another near hiss, smooth and venomous.

Hanabi's internal smile turned to a frown, and she mentally snorted. He was the one being presumptuous! Talking to her sister like that. She was sure the only reason their father was silent was to keep from undercutting Hinata's authority and distracting further from the argument at hand.

"You would dare tell this illustrious council what to think? What information you graciously share is enough for us to come to the conclusion you wish from us?" The acrimonious sarcasm resulted in visible reactions of surprise in some of the younger members present. "That is not sufficient. Hyuuga Neji has failed, and has shamed this clan by acknowledging this to a dubious ally with a demon possessed child Kage who betrayed us barely a year ago."

His words were cutting, barely appropriate, but it was his next words that had nearly broke Hanabi's control.

"Your display of a lack of proper judgment in choosing to support this degrading behavior only further exacerbates your already egregarious faults." The audible gasps did not get through to him. "I move to reject this humiliating proposal and dismiss."

On some level, Hanabi was sure her face was turning colors. _That arrogant son of a bi-_

"Denied," Hinata responded coolly. She was still chief speaker. "And if you doubt my ability to lead you are welcome to test me in the traditional way."

Hanabi blinked, and finally felt her father shift. Historically, the clan head was chosen by determining who was the most dangerous fighter in the clan, a remnant from the days of perpetual warfare. Was she really going to fight this guy? That would be…

Hanabi took a look at her older sisters posture, then considered the build of Hikage, who looked as though he turned his nose up at food as often as he did other peoples opinions. That would be great! A challenge issued to the clan member who put forth the proposal that was acted upon would be accepted as the final verdict on the proposal as well. If Hinata won, the proposal automatically passes unless their father chose to veto it. Which, of course he wouldn't.

He stared blankly, but the knowledge he would suffer a serious loss of face after his spectacular inability to pull off a Straw Man Fallacy (hey, listening to Hotaru-oba-san's lectures on speech is really paying off!), he whispered, "I accept."

*****O*****

Like most of other major clans in Konoha, the Hyuuga clan compound had a fully closed in dojo within the walls of the compound to allow for the practicing of clan secrets without risking revealing training to techniques to outsiders. Since a challenge to a clan head was to be answered within full view of any member of the clan who was interested in observing, the simple, austere dojo was crammed with what Hanabi determined was every Hyuuga who wasn't supposed to be on duty somewhere, and a few who were.

Being the daughter of the clan head had its perks, as she got to pull rank and get a seat in the front row near her father while lesser members were stuffing themselves in the standing room only section along the walls. Although, she still had to maintain the appearance of cool indifference.

But that didn't mean she had to actually be coolly indifferent. _Come on, Nee-san! Take his fool head off!_

Hinata and Hikage were standing facing each other on the mat, awaiting the cue to start. Comparing the two of them, it was hard to see who had the advantage. Hikage was older and taller, but nearly gaunt. Hinata was shorter and suffering a reach disadvantage, but carried more weight. To be delicate.

Hanabi took advantage of the chaos to smirk to herself. When she'd told Hinata what the male shinobi were saying about her bust line she'd nearly swallowed her marbles.

The clansmen selected to be the referee stood at the ready as both white-robed shinobi faced each other. He raised his hand.

"Hajime!"

"Byakugan!"

A flash of movement, and both shinobi engaged.

*****O*****

Hinata slid her weight forward onto her lead foot as she shifted her motion to set up her strike. Hikage's movements were sharp and angular, too direct and jerky in execution. It was clear he hadn't trained recently and that his emotions were effecting his concentration.

She breathed in and out evenly, focusing on the gentle flow and rhythm, transferring the steady control to her movements. Her hand flowed up in an arc, chakra pooling at the front of her open palm, aiming for the vulnerable elbow to disable it and turn him to expose his ribs.

The man jerked his arm back and thrust his clawed hand forward to slap chakra against her chest. A smooth intercept with the edge of her hand deflected his blow, and left his midsection open to a forward palm strike into his abdomen with her other hand, the chakra flashing like starburst.

Hikage twisted awkwardly, his weight too far forward. He threw one foot forward to compensate and aimed a sharp strike at Hinata's face. The kunoichi gracefully leaned beneath the arm, artfully dodging the hand, then leapt backward to avoid the elbow bending towards her temple.

For a moment, the two opponents regarded each other from a short distance. Hinata calmly watched the angry lines appear on the face of her clansmen.

He's letting his emotions get the better of him. _Don't lose your focus. You can defeat him. Pay attention._

He rushed forward, moving with greater ease and better form. Hinata barely suppressed her surprise in time to counter. He twisted his open hand downward and pushed his strike towards her midsection. Hinata caught the below with a flash of chakra into his forearm, then pulled her arms back to her side in a curve before continuing it forward to strike forward with both hands. The aggressive counter pushed her opponent back, causing him to skid on the mat.

Hikage caught his balance and surged forward, driving one arm towards her shoulder while pivoting his torso to limit her targets. Hinata bent smoothly backward at the waist, then countered fluidly with one glowing hand aiming for his elbow, the other arching for his midsection as she pivoted to put her weight behind the blow.

*****O*****

Hiashi watched as Hinata and Hikage exchanged blows, his older daughter displaying a graceful mastery of technique to counter her clansmen more powerful strikes. It was clear Hikage hadn't expected Hinata, who had been long ago labeled as hopelessly meek and an inferior combatant, to aggressively defend herself.

The flowing curves and smooth turns across the mat as she maneuvered were flawless, but she had not yet struck Hikage with enough force to disable his chakra network and halt the match, and Hikage was slowly recovering his form even though he was tiring visibly. It was possible Hikage would land a hit before he tired enough to be careless.

A white starburst of chakra illuminated the dojo and Hikage stumbled back, sucking in his breath sharply. Hinata lightly moved backward, settling into a well-balanced ready stance, her face serene.

"I understand your feelings, Hikage-san," Hinata said softly. "It cannot be easy to find such difficulty in attempting to defeat someone whom you consider an inferior opponent."

Hiashi felt a flicker of puzzlement. What was she doing?

"Yet, though I understand, I cannot permit you to defeat me. There is too much a stake for me to allow your pride to determine this outcome."

A wave of confusion passed through the audience, followed by murmurs and shuffling.

"You speak nonsense in an attempt to distract me," Hikage spat. "You waste your efforts."

"I only speak the truth," Hinata replied easily. "You are fighting for your pride, to validate your high opinion of yourself. I am fighting for what is right, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I will not permit you to defeat me."

"You permit me nothing. Stalling for time will not help you. Your attempt to continue a fight you cannot win will only underline your failure."

More whispers passed through the crowd, and Hiashi felt Hanabi's temper rise. Hinata was calm.

"I have heard those words before. If that person, highly regarded, could not stop me in pursuit of my goals, who could someone such as you hope to?"

Hiashi caught the subtle emphasis on the word 'you'. So did Hikage. His face blanked.

"I will end this now."

*****O*****

_Nee-san, what do you think you're doing?_

Hanabi watched as her older sister tried to play mind games with her opponent wondering just why she thought a technique like that would work under these conditions. It wasn't to death, he wasn't that tired, and he wasn't going to loss his cool. She was just giving him time to get his wind back and hardening her resolve with her taunts.

The taller man flashed forward, his hands ready. Hanabi tensed at the correctness of his posture. He'd finally gotten his form. Hinata had lost her best advantage.

Hikage came to a sudden stop a short distance from Hinata lifting his hands in a familiar form.

Hanabi felt her eyebrows go up. _Trigrams? That loser?_ That was one thing Hinata never seemed to really get the hang of. It was like she had a mental block against the final killing blow that kept her from mastering it; the closer she got to the end of the sequence the more she messed it up.

Hikage surged forward, gathering chakra at his palms.

So did Hinata.

Hanabi felt her jaw drop as Hinata first spun herself away from her opponent, moving her feet in a rapid, hard to follow pattern, then pivoted back.

"Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists!"

Chakra surged in a flash into a fluid, luminescent cloud, coalescing into two roaring lion heads on each Hinata's open hands. Hinata's whirling footwork continued, making her path impossible to predict. Hanabi watched stunned as one lion head surged forward and buried its chakra fangs into Hikage's forearm, the other stormed forward and drove the chakra spikes straight into the man core. With a strangled cry and lightening bright flash of chakra, the man crashed into mat, tumbling wildly.

Hinata paused, the glittering lion heads dissipating, standing calmly in the middle of the mat, and breathing steadily.

The audience watched in stunned silence as Hikage tried to lift himself, only to have his face contorted in shock. His lower half was completely useless, and the arm that had been grabbed by lion's maw was clearly immobile.

"I have closed the two key chakra points above your radius and ulna and blocked the points that move past your spine," Hinata said, watching the horror of realization spread across Hikage's angular face. "You're paralyzed."

Sounds of awe and wonder came form the crowd as a huge grin spread across Hanabi's face. Hinata had been gauging Hikage's mindset and making sure she had could correctly anticipate his next move. She read him perfectly.

"Yamete!" the referee called out. " Victor, Hyuuga Hinata-sama."

"Wait!" Hikage shouted, nearly foaming at the mouth in fury. He used his remaining arm to push himself approximately upright. "That was not Juuken! That bastard attack has no place in fight between two Hyuuga!" He struggled to turn himself to face his Clan Head. "Disqualify her!"

The crowd immediately quieted down to hear Hiashi's judgment.

Hiashi was unimpressed. "Innovation and ingenuity are necessary as basic shinobi skills. This-" he looked to his older daughter- "Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists utilizes basic Juuken principles and could not be executed by anyone outside of our clan. I see no reason to disallow it. The call of the referee stands."

Hinata relaxed from her ready stance as a chatter of happy commentary issued from the audience, along with a few loud cheers from the younger members.

"Alright, Nee-san!"

Hikage, for his part, sunk onto his face and laid still.

"Quiet!" Hiashi called. The crowd immediately calmed itself and looked to their leader. "Councilmen, by this victory, the proposal has passed. I choose not to exercise my veto power. That is all."

The chatter started up again as Hinata made her way over to he father and settled in front of him. Hanabi smiled broadly.

"Nee-san that was great!" she gushed. "That was brilliant! That new jutsu worked perfect. He had no idea what to do!"

"Thank you, Hanabi-chan," Hinata answered, finally showing weariness.

"Hinata," Hiashi said, bringing his daughters violet tinged eyes to meet his own snow-white eyes. "You have permission to do whatever you feel is required to meet Neji-kun's request."

Smiling tiredly, Hinata bowed.

*****O*****

White.

Endless white. He blinked, but there was no change. He tried to blink again, but there was nothing. He could not blink. There was nothing there for him to blink.

"Hiashi-sama."

A voice. Nowhere, yet everywhere. Soft, warm, kind, familiar. Loving.

"Irori?"

"I wondered when you would finally fall asleep," she said light-heartedly. "You always sleep so badly after having to go through a Council meeting."

There she was. How she arrived in this place, he couldn't say. How he had arrived here he couldn't say either. She was as his last memories of her, thicker around the middle than when they had been youths, her hips wider, her body having undergone the changes needed to nourish and birth their two daughters. But her bright eyes and ready smile were the same.

She smiled kindly. "I know you were worried. I heard you." She clasped her soft hands behind her back regarding him sympathetically. "You needn't have worried so."

"How could I not?" he said, his voice breaking, his controlled façade crumbling away in the light of her warmth, as it always had. "She could have had her heart crushed. Neji and her teammates may have died as a consequence. What may have happened if I had done nothing more than through her to her enemies to be…" He could not continue. How he wished he could touch his wife, to have that contact, but somehow he knew that was not possible here, wherever, whatever, this place was.

"I know you are hard on yourself, that you see all the mistakes that you made and regret," she said. "I won't say you weren't wrong, or that Hinata and Hanabi weren't harmed by it, but you have done your best to make it right and they are growing wonderfully," she reassured him confidently. "Hinata was ready to face this challenge. You were right in concluding that.

"Hiashi-sama," she said, the familiar tones of that loving, patient voice breaking his heart, "I know if you had really felt she would not succeed, you would not have let her attempt to speak for Neji-kun herself. You are not the kind of man to do that to his daughter. Not anymore."

He smiled bitterly. Irori-chan always told it like it was. He loved that even when it bruised his ego.

"I miss you," he whispered.

Her smile was gentle. "I miss you, too." Her voice was fading. She was returning to where she dwelled now. That didn't make it easier to sense her go.

_I'll still be watching over you…_

_

* * *

_

AN: Ah, good to be back. I apologize for the time it took to respond to reviews. I had a procedure done to try to fix my wrist two and a half weeks ago and only regained my ability to type at length on Saturday. I'm hoping I have also regained the ability to write by hand. Did I mention I still need surgery? This is such a nuisance.

Storywise, I adore Hinata and she had a big chunk in this story from the beginning to the point I though about making her one of the lead characters in the summary information. Her new jutsu is from Chapter 437 of the manga.

There was to be more GaaSaku in this one, but it got bumped to Chapter 7. C'est la vie.

Review if you like it!


	7. Whirlwind

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 7

Sakura stretched, enjoying the feeling of the muscles in her torso lengthening underneath her skin. The lean muscles in her shoulders and upper arms were slightly sore and tight from being worked thoroughly for the first time since her arrival in Suna. The amount of time she had spent reviewing over-sized medical texts and pages of diagnostic read outs had kept her largely indoors and at a desk, and definitely without the time too spare to pursue a decent workout. The current lull in activity this morning created by the need to wait for the information, or at least the reply, they all were expecting from Hinata and the other Hyuuga had finally given her some time to exercise.

The core exercises hadn't been particular strenuous even after being off her normal training schedule, and limbering up hadn't been too bad since she'd always enjoyed abnormal flexibility, even as an improperly motivated genin, but the sets of pushups she had just completed had muscle tissue loudly voicing its complaints. 'Wiry' would be a generous description of her build.

Then again, being so lightly built did have its advantages as far as unencumbered movement was concerned; and agility was required in any shinobi, let alone a medic.

At least she could jump and down without worrying about blacking her own eyes. How did Tsunade-shishou do it?

The beginnings of a breeze reached her nose through the open window of her austere sleeping quarters, bringing with it the cool hints of clean sand and heralding the emerging of the dawn from the last hours of the night. Sakura stretched over backward, testing the flexibility of ligaments along her spine, enjoying the feeling of stretching pulling across her stomach after so many rapid crunches, and inhaled deeply, pulling the cool, fresh air into her lungs as she righted herself.

She frowned a bit as she thought, eyebrows pulling together ever so slightly. Her knowledge of Gaara, largely outdated as it was, lead her to conclude he wasn't aware that Temari was trying to give an important guest, who was also a nin from another village, a not so subtle push in his direction. Heck, Temari might as well have waited until she and Gaara were in close proximity and nailed her in the middle of the insignia circle on her back with Gai's Dynamic Entry.

But how did he feel? Surely no one would be better at reading and understanding Gaara than his own sister. He definitely seemed closer to her in a way he wasn't with Kankuro, but that might be a personality difference. Gaara's personality appeared more like that of the brash but empathetic Temari than their obnoxious middle brother, but considering all that Gaara been through and her own limited contact with him these past few years, that was all speculation. She hadn't even seen all that much of Temari since her appointment as ambassador to Konoha was only a recent occurrence. Then again, that also was an indication of how high a regard Temari was held in by her youngest brother.

Sakura's mind rapidly collected and organized the information she had concerning the youngest Kazekage his country ever had. His father was also a Kage, from the oldest line in Suna, who had used and killed his own wife to turn his youngest son into a living weapon; a jinchuuriki with a tailed beast known to erode the sanity of it's hosts. That man then sent assassins after Gaara as a young boy, and those assassins included the brother of Gaara's mother, Yashamaru, the man who had raised Gaara. Gaara's mother has been a kunoichi from the Grass Country that was raised in Suna, and according to Uzume-san, had been a woman who drew the admiration and loyalty of a very loving governess and who wanted the best for her children, but ultimately lost the fight against the evil of her husband.

Sakura hoped the traits she observed in the siblings meant Gaara was his mother's son rather than his father's.

But even so, she sighed with sagging shoulders, was enough of Gaara, warped and still fighting his prisoner, still functioning well enough to understand what love really was, if that is what he might be feeling? She would not forget what misguided, selfish demands masquerading as affection did to people. The Kazekage's hateful existentialism had become something healthier now, but was he so warped and broken he could not approach mental and emotional wellness again, let alone so fast?

Just how the heck was she supposed to deal with this new situation without embarrassing the both of them? Or worse yet, cause a diplomatic incident and then try to explain it to Tsunade-shishou?

_Oh, now there's a lovely thought._

Sakura bounced lightly on the balls of her feet to get the blood flowing fully and headed towards the door. At least any humiliating faux pas on her part would be occur in private.

_Please, let my still have my head after this is all over._

*****O*****

The first glow of the morning was beginning to flow over the limitless line of the distant horizon, fading the inky black sky into a softer blue, competing with the flickering of the morning star for the lead in brightness. Across the waking desert, the misty dew collected on opening flower buds and unfurling leaves reflected the burgeoning sunrays in a twinkling dance of light, rivaling below the remaining stars still shining in the sky above.

The early morning silence was soothing and peaceful, only interrupted by the occasional tweets and calls of the desert fowl, fluffing their feathers and fluttering to the flora to drink the shimmering beads of cool collected dew. A fresh breeze floated over the sands and sighed up to the rooftop, gliding over the handmade tiles and brushing against Gaara's forehead, cooling him as he sat in quiet contemplation, enjoying the brief sanctuary with only the sounds of chattering birds and his own heartbeat to accompany him.

He sat in a meditative position, legs crossed, pondering an observation made about his person he had overheard and noted being discussed at length and with much interest among his subordinates. It was something he had been mulling over for sometime, not only on this morning but others as well, yet he was not sure what to ultimately conclude and how he should appropriately modify his behavior accordingly.

Why did his citizenry and political guests believe he didn't have any eyebrows?

Of course he had eyebrows. And they were exactly in the location where one would predict based upon standard accepted anatomy. They were merely constituted of fine blond hairs and were particularly sparse, making them difficult to detect at a polite distance. He understood this was not an uncommon occurrence in persons with fair coloring.

Temari had the same particular issue. His sister addressed the concern by sweeping a cosmetic consisting of brown powder onto the hairs to make her eyebrows more readily visible. He would apply this technique to remedy the situation on himself, but he had been informed by his sister that were he to apply women's cosmetics it would be, "a seriously bad idea, and that idiot daughter of the daimyo is trying to convince her father you wear a freak ton of eyeliner as it is."

Which is apparently a negative thing, and therefore bad for maintaining pleasant diplomatic relations.

A ripple of familiar chakra floated over his senses, like the final curls of a gentle wave flowing onto the quiet shores, inspiring feelings of reassurance and warmth in its wake.

_Sakura._

She was passing by on the floor above, walking softly so that her footfalls made no more noise than that of a cat, through the breezy corridor that would bring her past the balcony he used to access the roof in the mornings.

Part of his meditative attention departed away from the steady rhythm of the deep breathes moving in and out of his chest to follow her progress as she drifted like a ghost at the edge of senses, a misty presence to distant to wholly engage. Her chakra signature curved towards the simple viewing balcony that faced the dawn, then floated over the edge.

Gaara opened his eyes and turned his head slightly in acknowledgement as the slender kunoichi treaded softly to wear he sat in repose. The casual pace clearly indicated it was not an emergency, or even a formal meeting.

Dusty pink, her cargo skirt, entered his vision as Sakura came to stand beside him.

"May I be so bold as to ask to join you, Kazekage-sama?" Her voice was soft, matching the mood of the early morning.

"You may."

A rustle of movement and she was settled a polite distance from him, also facing the slowly rising sun and it's accompaniment of prismatic color on the pristine dunes below.

Time passed in silence as Gaara pondered how to address the unprecedented situation. He had wanted to discuss numerous matters with his her, but now that they opportunity presented itself he felt at a loss for words. And strangely hot around the face.

"Do you take time out to watch the sunrise often, Kazekage-sama?"

"I do." There was more silence. Perhaps he should say more. Ah, this must be small talk then. "It is a rare time of quiet in my full schedule."

"Oh," Sakura answered, her posture becoming stiff. "I should leave you alone then." She began to unfold her legs to rise.

"No," he countered swiftly, looking up into green eyes that had darted to him at his outburst. "You are most welcome here."

Sakura settled back down into her seated position, and Gaara felt a moment of relief. A desert swallow sang out a few notes, testing it's voice after a full nights sleep.

"I hope our team's performance has been up to your standards, Kazekage-sama," Sakura ventured, still facing the horizon, desperately trying to start a conversation.

"It has," he answered honestly. "Your reputation as a medic is well deserved. The descriptions and praises of your skills were not exaggerated."

"Thank you very much," Sakura replied, and Gaara detected a note of embarrassment. He decided he could safely assume she was flattered, and this was an appropriate topic on which to converse.

"I am very glad that you have come." He noticed a tinge of red on her ears. "Were you already beginning your studies as a medical ninja at the times of the first chuunin exam?"

"Ah, no." She sounded slightly surprised by the question, casting a quick glance in his direction. "I began shortly afterward." She paused. "I came to realize I was not much of a… an asset to my team and resolved to get better. I've always had perfect chakra control, so it was a natural choice."

She had babbled slightly at the end of her explanation. He wondered why. She had shown great poise and professionalism during her time in Suna, and impressive mental and emotional fortitude during the their first battle in the forests surrounding Konoha.

"You displayed admirable dedication to your teammates, even when faced with a superior opponent." Why did she assess herself as not being an asset when she had such courage and devotion? Such traits were highly praised and difficult to teach. "How were you not at a level you deemed acceptable?" A thought struck him, a potential acceptable explanation. "Had you been injured and fallen behind in your training?" She had been inferior in technique and raw power compared to Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

"No, I was never injured," she quickly explained, then the bright head slipped forward, and her words slowed to the speed of those spoken with reluctance. "I didn't… I didn't have the right motivation when I was a new genin." Her words were soaked with shame. "I was selfish, and very naïve." Her shoulders, always straight with pride, now hung in self-reproach. "It wasn't until Sasuke-kun left, and tried to kill Naruto in the process, that I snapped out the childish fantasies I had, and realized how hard I needed to work."

She laughed slightly to herself without humor, tossing her head so that the new sunrays glinted of the pink strands of hair. "I had never thought about being a medical ninja. It only came to mind when Tsunade-shishou become the Godaime."

"Never?" Surprised.

"No. I didn't really have a path picked out."

He stared in incomprehension. "I would not have expected that of you." A nin, let alone one of skill, with no plan to speak of? "You are highly intelligent and capable of excellent analysis, even with limited time and resources." He spotted the red color returning to the shell of her ear.

"Like I said, naïve." She seemed to scoff at herself. "I like to hope those days are behind me though."

"And now?"

"I want to follow Tsunade-shishou and Shizune and become a jounin medic," she answered readily, " and to help Naruto in pursuit of his dream."

_To become Hokage!_

Gaara felt a slight smile tug at the corners of his lips as the memory of the most impossibly loud ninja burst into thoughts with all the vigor of the person it had come from.

"You formed an extraordinary bond as a team," he stated. "More than what regularly occurs between team members. It is…" he considered his emotional reaction, "most endearing. Were the three of you companions even before the selection of the genin teams?"

This pause in the conversation was definitely uncomfortable. "No. We went to the academy together of course, but although we interacted we weren't friends."

Her heartbeat and pulse were slightly erratic, and he could detect very slight fidgeting. Speaking of the past of her team was uncomfortable for her. Was it the residual effects of the betrayal of Uchiha Sasuke?

"I didn't treat Naruto right."

Gaara felt his eyebrows lift up in surprise. The compassionate kunoichi, with such overflowing affection, ready smile, and warm eyes, treating Naruto coldly?

"He was always treated badly and I just followed along. He was really annoying but now when I look back on it…" She struggled to find the words. "I'm not sure why. He was a nuisance as a student, but… He didn't even have any family. No one at all, except for Iruka-sensei, treated him kindly. He must have been looking for attention. Most people just ignored him like he was invisible." A heartbeat passed. "I still don't know why. And… I'm ashamed to admit it took me too long to care.

"And Sasuke-kun just never cared. It took Naruto's determination to be friends to get though to him."

Gaara watched one pale hand slide in the pink hair, a nervous gesture he noticed her use when she was puzzling out a problem or forming a plan.

"Naruto has no family?" Naruto had said he had been alone. Did that extend beyond being singularly unique? He had assumed his family distanced themselves from him, in the same way his own family had for most of his life. He had not realized it could mean Naruto literally had no one to be connected to. "What happened to them?"

Sakura's hand returned to her lap with a boneless flop. "I don't know. No one ever talks about them, not even Naruto himself." Green eyes, full of emotion, flicked in his direction. "By the time I realized I should probably ask, I was too embarrassed to, and Naruto has never brought them up." Her head shifted toward one shoulder in thought. "I thought maybe it was because he didn't want to dig up painful memories for Sasuke-kun, but now I think there's more to it." Sakura righted herself. "He might be an orphan. He's the only Uzumaki in the Village and a name like Uzumaki Naruto just screams Whirlpool Country. It could be he's the son of refugees who died or abandoned him, or even his parents were executed for something, which would explain the odd behavior of the other villagers."

Sakura become momentarily lost in thought, leaving Gaara to mull over this new information. Hyuuga Neji, now a competent captain who shared a mutual respect with Sakura, during the tournament had declared Naruto doomed, a failure. Essentially, a reject. Naruto had not denied this.

_You're not a failure, unlike me._

His father and village had wanted him to be a weapon, but Konoha's citizens would not acknowledge Naruto's existence unless they must? That was illogical. He must be lacking critical information. Were they so traumatized by the Kyuubi attack?

"How did you come to feel so strongly for Naruto?" Gaara noted his soft rasp was more gravely than normal. He hadn't realized his train of thought was affecting him so.

"I came to realize how wrong I'd been." She was calm again, simply relaying a fact she had recognized. "I'd been weak. I had thought playing the damsel in distress would… would get me the attention from Sasuke-kun I wanted, but it just made me a burden. Naruto had always cared no matter what. No matter how horrible I was he was still wiling to risk himself for me, even when he got crushed as a result." She sighed, and raised her face to look wistfully into the growing sunrise through a protective fan of lashes. "I finally saw that being deliberately weak for any reason was just stupid, especially when you could be a support to people you cared about and cared about you. I learned this lesson from Naruto."

A gentle breeze danced across the smooth polished roof, pushing along grains of sand that scrapped slightly against the stone that was the primary building material of the desert village.

"I see," he said.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her turn to him curiously, but kept his expression carefully hidden in the shade of bangs.

"Uchiha Sasuke betrayed you and Naruto." It wasn't a question. He caught the subtle change in the air between them as he changed topic. "Do you still have the same bond to the Uchiha that you once did?"

Sakura took her time in answering, but if there was one thing Gaara had learned from a lifetime of sleepless nights, it was patience.

"He will always be my teammate. He is the teammate of Naruto and I both. We're going to bring him back." Gaara carefully looked at the kunoichi and marveled slightly at the resolve the morning light lit up in her delicate features. "He made his decision, but he made it because Orochimaru messed with his head." Her voice dripped venom. "I'll beat sense into him personally if I have to. He's not staying there; he's our teammate. He's supposed to be with us."

A steel solid determination stood firmly in her voice and her posture, not directed at Gaara, but in defiance of things as they were. She would not accept Uchiha Sasuke in the hands of the mad missing nin, and would personally destroy anything that got in her way.

The strange heat was back, but this time it was more of an internal warmth. It was somewhat like when Temari gave him a hug or Kankuro vociferously degraded Council members who caused 'their frickin' Kazekage and my brother' logistical or litigious difficulties.

"Naruto and I are going to go get him together," she continued. "That is Naruto's goal."

She must have noticed his look of slight puzzlement because she elaborated with a slight smile.

"He can't be much of a Hokage if he can't even save his own friend, right? Well," she rolled her eyes slightly, "that or he figures he'll a bit busy to go drag Sasuke-kun back when he's Kage."

Gaara openly watched Sakura enjoy recollections in the viewing room of her mind as she thought on what must have been happy memories of the team.

"How long until the two of you are able to retrieve him, do you estimate?" he asked quietly.

Sakura frowned. "We have not quite, from this point, a year." She huffed slightly. "I don't when Naruto plans to return, but if he even tries to go after Sasuke-kun without me, I'm going to deck him so hard he'll land somewhere in the Snow Country."

The funny tugging sensation was back at the corners of his mouth. A year? Naruto and Sakura would most likely be accompanied by their sensei, Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, and one more squad member to make a complete cell of four. He had no doubt Naruto would convince the Hokage to let the team go after Uchiha Sasuke. Irregular as it was, the rogue ninja had not even been declared a 'missing nin', showing a remarkable leniency on the part of the Hokage. Gaara had not doubt this was attributable to Naruto's influence.

Then to compensate for time needed for adjustment following such an emotionally draining mission, Gaara decided he would need to write a letter to the Hokage in a year and a half.

"What do you intend to do following the return of Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sakura blinked slightly, caught off guard. "I haven't decided on too many long tern specifics yet." She tilted her head. "I still have much to learn as a kunoichi and a medic. I will probably focus on making jounin." She smiled then, a slight hint of pointy teeth in it. "And help Naruto pass the chuunin exams."

It was Gaara's turn to blink. "What?"

"Oh, yeah," Sakura confirmed. "He's still a genin." She snickered to herself, causing Gaara to raise a confused eyebrow. "When he finds out you're already the Kazekage he's going to completely freak out."

"Wouldn't he already be aware of this?" Gaara asked puzzled, not understanding the source of her mirth. "This institution of a new Kage in any of the Five Countries would be a matter worthy of overhearing, correct?"

"With Naruto's judgment and focus? Don't bet on it."

Gaara opened his mouth to form a rebuttal but the movement of chakra at the balcony forestalled him.

"Gaara-sama." Baki was standing at the railing. "I apologize for interrupting, but you are needed."

Gaara nodded briefly in acknowledgment before rising to his feet, Sakura mirroring his motions beside him. The sun was now fully up, and the heat was beginning to increase. He turned his attention to his companion. He was not going to let speaking with her slip away so easily.

"Haruno-san, would you be willing to continue this conversation at a later time this evening if both our schedules are permitting?"

Sakura smiled in a friendly manner. "I am. Let me know if you can find the time."

*****O*****

Gaara and Baki-san disappeared around the corner of the hallway, seemingly swathed in shadow to her dazzled eyes after the brightness of the outdoors. Sakura watched them go, discreetly looked around to confirm the she was alone, and then let her jaw drop to the floor in astonishment at herself.

_What the heck was I thinking just now?_

*****O****

Temari's chakra, despite the every increasing strain present in the usually vibrant flow, was lively and active, and the snatches of voice he could detect through the closed doorway told him she was in an animated conversation with Tetsubin-sensei.

Good. Then he didn't have to worry about accidentally barging in on her naked.

He had failed to learn not to do that again the first time with a mere barrage of senbon and the second time she resorted to explosive tags tied to a fistful of kunai, and Matsuri had bemoaned the damage to the fragile bamboo women's bathing facility for months afterwards. It was probably not worth the trouble to see what she might use against him if he transgressed a third time.

The conversation cut off abruptly as Gaara used one hand to slam open the door and fixed his sister with an icy glare.

Tetsubin-sensei stared at Gaara wide-eyed, clearly confused at the behavior of the Kage in the doorframe. Temari merely smiled serenely, speaking in an unnecessarily sweet tone. "Hi there, little brother. Did you bring me flowers?"

"You meddled in my personal affairs," he hissed, causing a few nurses passing by in the hallway behind him to abruptly change direction and go somewhere else.

"Now Gaara," Temari answered in her most matronly tone, waving a pale hand dismissively. "What did you agree to with Kankuro and me about being less formal with family?"

_I will try not to act like I have a giant stick rammed up my-_

_Gaara!_

_It was Kankuro's choice of words, Temari._

Gaara felt his temper bubble slightly closer to the surface at the well-timed admonishment. She was ruining his expressing of a grievance! He quickly thought of how Kankuro would phrase it.

"Temari, that was ballsy." And he delighted at how her yellowed eyes narrowed at that small victory.

"I didn't meddle," she retorted, "I openly and shamelessly manipulated." She gave him a fanged grin. "So, was your talk productive?"

Gaara intensified his glare to what Matsuri referred to as "melt the opponent mode". Temari responded with a look of complete innocence.

_She's immune. What a nuisance._

He stepped the rest of the way into the room and allowed the door to close behind him. He considered Tetsubin-sensei, how was standing politely and unobtrusively before Temari, still holding a series of reports that must have been the topic of conversation.

"Tetsubin-sensei," he said softly, regaining his composure, "would you please excuse us for a moment?"

The doctor bowed professionally, showing neither awkwardness nor relief, and departed through the doorway. Gaara watched him go, and then looked back to his sister in her hospital bed.

"Sakura is very dedicated to Naruto and the retrieval of the Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara relayed as Temari listened intently. "She is awaiting Naruto's return to Konoha so that they may pursue him together." He walked towards the bed to stand in the space the doctor had occupied just before.

"She hasn't cut ties with that guy, huh?" Temari mused rhetorically, closing her eyes to think. "Not very professional of her to be so emotionally involved with an enemy, even if he is an old friend." Temari opened her eyes to look at a point beyond the far wall. "She's going to get her heart broken into pieces; but she probably knows this and is going forward anyway. Tough gal."

Gaara looked at the only sister he had. "If you were in her position, would you abandon him to whatever fate he faces?"

Temari frowned, considering the painful scenario. "I used to be able to say yes without hesitating, but now I just can't be sure." She took a moment to reflect internally, and Gaara noticed how discolored the skin under her eyes was becoming. "Ruthless efficiency can't apply to what one holds dear without destroying everything that makes ones life worth living." Temari paused returning her attention to Gaara. "She did at least say she was going to beat the life half out of him when she caught him, right?"

"I believe so."

"Good."

"Temari," Gaara asked, watching his sister's reaction carefully, "what exactly did you say to Sakura before she sought me?"

*****O*****

Times like this made Kankuro wish chakra and electronic signals got along better so the various squads he had deployed could keep better contact with each other.

The motley group he led, consisting of his brother's little genin student and the Hyuuga and Inuzuka, vaulted through the northern limits of the blazing hot dunes where shifting sands gave way to harsh and scrubby blazing hot wasteland. The search pattern they had set up, including two additional groups moving at random to prevent any enemy ninja from exploiting a gap in their movements, had so far yielded nothing. Kankuro honestly couldn't figure out how these foreign nin were operating.

They couldn't be that from the seal that was being used to taint the water supply. Well, at least one of them couldn't be, but if there was only one nin strong enough to be behind all this they were already more than screwed.

The teams should have found chakra sensors or traps left behind by the invading Gold Country shinobi. Leaving an unguarded perimeter, especially in hostile enemy territory, was suicidal. Yet there wasn't even a trace of shinobi activity.

He tried to ignore the fact he could feel anxiety building up, triggered by the lack of progress. 'What if' was bubbling up at the outskirts of his conscience. The jounins who had become infected with illness didn't get better. They all died. All of them.

Temari would go down kicking and screaming, and whichever poor shinigami showed up to escort her to the afterlife was going to get a man-slaying knee to the junk.

She acted like she was fine and kept busy with doing her part to care for the ill, but he knew she was steadily getting worse. Anyone could see it. She was getting even paler, losing weight, her skin was yellowing and the bruising around her IV's was worsening. If they didn't get a cure soon…

_No…_

Temari was going to be dead.

Kankuro fought a grimace as his traitorous mind finished the thought for him. Temari was the only decent person who'd been there his whole life who hadn't been limited to protocol or the threat of punishment for failure to comply with rules and restrictions. She was the glue that kept their psycho little family together, even when their father had still been alive. If…

_No! NO!_

He forcefully redirected his attention back out into the desert, dry, dusty, and completely ordinary. There was nothing for them to go on. Nothing the-!

Feeling his body temperature inadvertently begin to rise in anger, Kankuro raised a black-gloved hand and signaled his squad to stop as the group neared a small crag of crumbling rock throwing a shadow on the parched sands. He needed to take his anger out on something.

Or someone.

A flash of sunlight on bright white made him squint as the Hyuuga landed beside him, not even kicking us a cloud of dust to dirty his pretty little robes. Kami, he hated pretty boys, especially fancy pretty boys who acted like they were better than everyone else. He acted all perfect, perfect manners and stupid kekkei genkai that didn't even help.

He hated guys like that so much he could spit.

"Water break."

*****O*****

Matsuri landed with a quiet thud, sighing softly at the feel of cooler shade as her knees automatically bent to absorb the slight impact and chakra instantly flowed to the bottoms of her new sandals to prevent any loss of balance from the shifting of the individual sand grains.

She lifted one hand to scratch with her fingernails at the crust of salt that was collecting along her temples. She heard Kankuro-sama turn to Neji-taichou and looked up. They were such opposites of each other. Neji-taichou, in clean white robes, clear eyes, and long dark hair in a neat tie, standing calm and unruffled opposite Kankuro-sama in all black, with clan face-paint beginning to smear with sweat, eyes dark and squinty.

Also she thought she heard Temari-sama say he was going bald.

Ouch.

"Any helpful insights?" Kankuro asked brusquely, face puckered like he was constipated, being just plain rude and throwing a veiled insult at the Hyuuga kekkei genkai for no other reason than he was cranky.

_Biggest jerk in Suna._

Ignoring him, she pulled her canteen free from the band at her waist. After her disaster of a showing during the fight at the oasis, she had listened to Shino-san and switched to the muted tones of the desert. She was almost in standard uniform now, but she couldn't resist getting a pair of knee high sandals like those than Haruno-san wore.

That look was just too hot to not wear.

Speaking of Shino-san though.

Her eyes flicked to the oddly quiet Kiba and Akamaru. The normally upbeat dog-nin was morose and silent. The cheerful grin and ready jokes were gone, his blank expression angled downward to face the black collar of his jacket.

Kiba was still very subdued beneath his determination to catch those responsible for making Shino and everyone else sick. The usual brightness in his eyes wasn't there as he unfolded the collapsible cup he kept with in his pack to make sure Akamaru was watered.

Matsuri watched discreetly as the chuunin slowly kneeled on the shaded sands and poured water into the cup as Akamaru lowered his shaggy head and lapped noisily. She really wanted to say something.

But like what? Man, what happened to Shino-san sucks? Well, he knew that. At least Shino-san was still stable when they left.

Matsuri had no doubt when they did come across a group of Gold nin and whoever else might be in on this, she was sure Kiba-san was going to beat them with an inch of their lives if he wasn't able to find an excuse to kill them outright.

Matsuri surpassed a shudder of reflexive revulsion as she lowered her canteen form her mouth. Killing people was nasty business. She hadn't had to kill anyone herself yet, no Gaara-sensei was really good at that and took care of it all himself, but just being there was still unsettling.

For most people it was the sight of blood that got to them, the splash of ghastly bright red against a dying expression, or the look on those that were dying's faces as they realized you had killed them, or they glassy stare of dead and empty eyes afterwards.

For her though, it was all about the _squelch_. She really hated the sound it made when you killed someone up close and personal. Sharpened blades like razors slicing through skin, fatty tissue, and quivering muscle and leaving only flesh wounds was one thing, but it was the other sound, the _squelch_, that was made when the gut was punctured and the organs squished together and outwards, or the sound when a kunai hit the torso and that awful sound was made by the sucking of severed flesh as the blade moved in and out of bloody, weakly flapping lung.

Gaara-sensei added a bizarre muffled quality to the sound when he used his jutsu, and there was the crunching of collapsing bone shattering into grainy paste added, but for some reason the crunching just reminded her of a stomped on cockroach.

Nothing beat that _squelch_. Man, she hated that.

A derisive snort broke her concentration and she noticed the mildly irritated look the even-tempered Neji-taichou was directing at Kankuro-sama for the latter's high-handed and unjustifiable disdain. Talk over, she guessed.

"Well if that's all you've got," the puppeteer nearly sulked, "let's get moving again."

Matsuri gave Kankuro's shadowy back a dirty look as Kiba packed and readied for traveling again while Akamaru snuffled to himself forlornly.

_Correction: Biggest jerk in all the Wind Country._

*****O*****

The underbelly of Konoha was suitably oppressive for the kind of impression it's name gave. Tunnels carved into the rock beneath the city varied from municipal portals to maintain sewage lines and the like, to secret passages for clandestine movements and emergency evacuations, to catacombs with layer upon layer of rotted corpses and dusty skeletons with forgotten names, to secret meeting rooms.

Ibiki stood motionless, nonchalant and relaxed in a way that would have fooled a civilian. He tuned his senses to check for signs of tampering, but the secluded and well-hidden room was as he had last left it. There was no indication any of seals had been altered, or new ones placed. Not that that made the miniature dungeon any more inviting.

The room was small, austere, with stone hewn walls lined with cement. The room had the cool wet feel of the underground that was not helped by the drips from a leaky pipe somewhere in the surrounding tunnels. And, of course it was dark, with that indistinct feel of earth pressing in all around that one felt in caves and other subterranean spaces.

He suppressed a sigh. He was located in rooms like this enough as it was. He didn't need to be in them even more, even for reasons like this.

The subtle sound of movement caught his ears before two pairs of footsteps and the clinking of a women's metallic hair ornaments neared the door on the opposite side of the chamber from the one he had he had used to enter. The flame of the small torch in the holder embedded in the wall flickered as the air around it was disturbed as two more people entered the tiny chamber, closing the door securely in their wake.

Homura Mitokada and Koharu Utatane skipped any semblance of politeness or decorum as they made there way in. Ibiki really didn't expect any different. The Hokage-sama made no attempt to hide her dislike for the two elders, who still saw her as an inferior to listen without question to those older than her, and everything they had allowed, and worse, condoned during their extended tenure in the government of Konoha, and the pair didn't hide their disproval of anything Tsunade-sama did that wasn't an exact copy of their wishes. The battle of ego and pride was relentless.

"What is so significant that we should meet under these circumstances, Morino-san?" Mitokada muttered, indicating his displeasure at meeting in a location perceived so beneath his dignity. Utatane, for her part, was being careful her kimono's hem didn't make contact with the slimy floor.

"Thank you for coming, Mitokada-san, Utatane-san," Ibiki replied politely, and secretly enjoyed the frowns on their faces as he outshone their utter lack of manners. Their old egos bruised so easily. "The Hokage-sama has a request for you that must not reach the ears of others."

Mitokada 'hmped' in response and crossed his arms, regarding the interrogator through sharply glinting glasses. "What has Tsunade-hime gotten herself into that she should deign to request the help of the two of us?" he challenged, voice dripping with sarcasm the same way the walls dripped with mildew.

There was no reason to pretend Tsunade didn't avoid the two septuagenarians and limit their knowledge and influence as much as humanly possible. "It concerns Danzou." The shift of expression in their wrinkled faces told him they were now curious, though no less inflexible. "Danzou has shown in interest in the current crisis in Suna that has Tsunade-sama concerned."

"And she wants us to be her spies does she?" Mitokada said grimly.

"Not exactly," Ibiki countered swiftly. "I am sure you are both aware that there is a plague in Suna." The two still maintained excellent information networks. There was no possibility they were unaware. "The Hokage-sama is suspicious of Danzou's interest and believes he may exacerbate or otherwise exploit the problem in a way that would undermine her authority or expressed philosophies."

"Danzou is free to think as he wants," Utatane admonished, her voice creaky and oddly echoed in the near empty chamber, her squinty eyes regarding him critically. "Or is disagreeing with the Hokage now grounds for monitoring a citizens activities?"

The question was obviously rhetorical, so he didn't answer, and instead waited for her to make her point.

"You and Tsunade-hime both know we disagree and have for a long time disagreed with the Sandaime's more lax policies. Do you have any reason to believe Danzou has intentions we would feel the need to interfere with?"

The taunt was subtle but there, a shot at his belief that Danzou had been responsible for letting Orochimaru succeed in posing as a Konoha jounin-sensei over Yakushi Kabuto and his teammates during the disastrous chuunin exams. The evidence was weak at best and easily explained away with mundane reasonings, but Ibiki was certain Danzou had a personal hand in it. Mitokada and Utatane dismissed it completely as nonsense, a side effect of the influence his profession had on his perceptions of others.

In other words they thought he was a paranoid nut, but he had long ago learned to trust his instincts. He continued on, determined.

"He has already spoken to Tsunade-sama to determine how much she knows about the situation, suggesting he has personal intentions regarding the crisis and needs to know what to expect in terms of a reaction from Tsunade-sama, causing her concern." That was putting it mildly. According to Shizune, she had been livid at his audacity following the meeting and at her restricted available responses due to her office as Hokage. "She wants you to prevent him from doing anything to worsen the situation." He noted the pair listening more seriously. "You know Danzou has long been interested in aggressive policy to return our village to a position as the unquestioned dominant military power among the Hidden Villages. A weakened or destroyed Suna would help him reach that goal, even it cost our village as well, so long as it didn't effect his final vision."

The pair exchanged a questioning look.

He didn't need to tell them that Danzou would not care about honoring the peace treaty in the least, nor would he consider any sacrifice too great to meet his ideals. Not even the elders could claim to know what was in the enigmatic shinobi's mind. It was entirely possible he considered everything short of himself expendable. Ultimately, without knowing Danzou's limits, the elders couldn't risk him doing something that might harm the village in a way that they couldn't stand for, or even worse, sacrifice them.

The Hokage-sama knew this, and Mitokada and Utatane knew it. As much as they were incensed by Tsunade's continued adherence to her fallen sensei's philosophies and not theirs, they knew there was no reason they could use to allow Danzou to do something destructive.

At least not without their full prior knowledge and blessing.

The grey-haired man closed his eyes and exhaled sharply through his nose as he turned from the old kunoichi back to the ANBU. He opened his eyes and fixed Ibiki with a sharp look.

"We will make certain Danzou-san does nothing in regards to Suna that Tsunade-hime would be angered to learn of."

Utatane's sour expression said she was unhappy about the arrangement but grudgingly agreed.

Satisfactory. It was as much as he could reasonably hope for.

"I will relay the outcome of our meeting to the Hokage-sama," Ibiki said formally as the two elders, openly displeased but still fully arrogant, turned in tandem to leave through the door they had entered through, disappearing quietly into the gloomy dark.

*****O*****

This was a joke. The universe was having a good laugh at her expense.

Sakura gave herself a mental shake. She couldn't think like that, she needed to keep her head on straight. It was perfectly acceptable that, considering how late in the evening it was, she meet with Gaara in his private quarters. They were only in the sitting room. There was nothing to be concerned about. She just had to maintain her composure and be polite and dignified as possible.

…

_Kami-sama, this sucks!_

How did she let things like this happen?

As the evening approached the medic had seriously considered burying herself in enough research and patient care to reasonably claim she could not make the engagement- meeting! – due to tasks at the hospital, but in the end she couldn't face herself knowing she lied when he wanted to talk to her so badly, and when so many people had been two-faced in his past.

So why was this so _incredibly_ awkward?

She faced Gaara across a small table that had their porcelain teacups and a teapot sitting on top, steaming gently. Ever since the standard small talk had passed between them, an awkward silence had infiltrated the cozy room. She should offer something to talk about, but man she really didn't want to be here any longer than she had to right now.

"I was told you had an opportunity to have tea with Uzume-san in the greenhouses."

Sakura suppressed a jolt of surprise, the Kage's voice, raspy yet smoothly spoken, was unnaturally loud in the pressing silence. She recovered and rallied quickly.

"I did," she replied calmly. "The tea here in Suna is very good. The flavor is stronger than the variety we typically have in Konoha." She gave him a gentle smile.

"Not too strong?" he replied as if genuinely curious she had not said so, his light colored eyes watching her carefully.

"Ah, no. Why?"

"Matsuri told me you had a rather, adverse, reaction to the coffee our medical staff typically imbibes in the mornings," he revealed in that same smooth voice.

"Oh." Well, that's embarrassing. "It is a great deal stronger than what I'm used to," she answered, grinning sheepishly as he tilted his head slightly at her reaction. "I do think it would do well in Konoha though. Some of the shinobi there want a stronger brew that what we have available."

Gaara lifted his teacup from the carefully carved wood of the table and brought towards his lips before he said, "What else did the two of you discuss?"

Sakura managed not to swallow her tongue in shock, letting her eyebrows come together slightly in annoyance. _You planned that! Fine then!_

"Suna's history, especially things not covered in Konoha's history books," she said breezily, noting his eyes shot up from the teacup and darkened a shade.

_Gotcha, boy._

He turned his head towards a display shelf on the wall, turning the scar writ character on his forehead into the center of her vision.

"There."

She followed his gaze and not what appeared to be a very old but well-kept battle fan upon the shelf, it's black lacquer gleaming.

"That Battle Fan belonged to my mother."

Sakura immediately felt much smaller. _Ah, didn't exactly bring me here to discuss tea and coffee, did you?_

Gaara continued, looking at them fan with a softly sentimental expression. "She carried it as jounin until she retired from the field. Originally, it belonged to Temari, but Temari has numerous mementos from our mother, so the fan she passed to me."

Sakura looked carefully, the glint of the light from the lanterns flickering across the weapon like the fingers of a ghost.

"I understand the Battle Fan is a very difficult weapon to learn," Sakura said quietly, remembering her own readings as well as a rant from Tenten after a badly timed comment from Naruto. "The wielder has to have Wind Chakra, and then spend a lot of time in dedicated study to pick up all of the nuances of chakra based tessenjutsu."

Wind chakra made for an excellent weapon due to it's prime combination of power and speed, but it was these traits that made it difficult to use in a fine-tuned manner as the chakra tended to fly around out of control when applied in a continuous stream.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noted Gaara return some of his attention to her. "This is true. Temari is Suna's only current active performer of tessenjutsu, and even she is still in training."

"Really?" She was genuinely impressed. "I wouldn't have guessed that. Temari-san seems as though she would be a master already, as driven as she is." She blinked. "I didn't realize tessenjutsu was that difficult."

"Temari has not focused her full attention to her studies in favor of helping me to govern Suna," Gaara explained, and Sakura felt her admiration for the kunoichi go up another notch.

She was sacrificing her own excellence to aid Gaara? Temari seemed to be very fond of her unique art, flaunting it openly during the chuunin exams, and always answering questions happily from excited children and curious adults and taking excellent care of it during her stays in Konoha. She must enjoy practicing very much, but she was spending less time on a beloved aspect of her profession to help Gaara. Or maybe Gaara was simply more important to her.

She thought back to Ino's shamelessly gawking reaction when Temari first entered Konoha's gates as an ambassador.

"Oh. My. _Kami_. Do you see what she's wearing?"

The bombshell had grabbed her arm and pointed rudely across the bustling streets of the evening to emphasize the simple black kimono.

"What is she thinking? That is so bland and passé. She looks like she's forty, I swear."

For her part, Sakura was largely indifferent to what the Suna kunoichi wore, but she knew the reason why Ino acted more astonished then she did the time Anko went streaking, in every since of the word, past them chasing Jiraiya for peeping in the women's hot springs.

Ino had always considered herself the most fashion forward kunoichi, and on top of every new trend and style in the Five countries. Then Temari had strutted into Konoha with her brothers for the exams, with a trend setting hair cut, the most fashionable use of the metal mesh used by kunoichi possible, and an impeccable outfit with a killer cut collar and the _perfect_ red sash.

Or so Ino had complained. Loudly, over and over, as they sat in the stadium stands together with Choji watching the matches.

For Ino to see her fashion rival in something more professional had left her flat shocked. Sakura didn't really care, but now it emphasized how much Temari had matured.

And how much Ino had not.

_I wonder how I'm doing then?_

Sakura shifted her gaze to Gaara, how was quietly watching her. He sees something in me, but what does that really mean?

"I won't let this thing get Temari-san, Gaara," Sakura promised, looking him square in the eye, her voice steely. "I'll found out how to stop this attack and track the people who caused it."

"Temari will not die." His voice was soft, but inexorable. Sakura felt herself sitting up straighter, having unknowingly leaned forward. He spoke it as a fact, his rasp empty of emotion. "I will not allow it."

Sakura felt a shudder go up her spine at the mask on the pale Kazekage's face. Just like that, he was the emotionless killer. He was blocking his emotions, she realized. He could not even consider losing his sister, and therefore flat rejected it as a possibility.

Adrenaline twisted into her gut. If for some reason Temari didn't make it, there was a very real possibility Gaara might lose his mind.

_And then what might happen after…_

"I'm going to find this guy," she repeated, not backing down from her nerves. "He's not getting away."

A moment passed in the quiet room, the lantern casting shadows across the plush carpet and carefully painted cups.

A minute curving began to form at the corners of Gaara's mouth, and Sakura found herself mildly puzzled to see it reach his eyes, which were still locked with hers thanks to her ardent stare.

"Thank you."

"Hmm?" What did he mean?

"You called me by name."

He smiled at her more clearly as she felt a blush manifest itself from the roots of hair to down below her shirt collar. She had! She had used his name without even an honorific!

"It slipped," she said quickly.

"I know."

He looked completely at ease, as relaxed as she had ever seen him. _Now if he'd just stop looking at me like that!_ Since when could he have a look like that?

His smooth, deep voice brought her back to the situation at hand, and had a curious calming effect all on it's own.

"It means far more that you say my name without thought rather than you say it after deliberate calculation." His expression was open. "I have spent too much time among manipulators and liars not to appreciate a plain message."

Sakura was feeling the need to swallow. What exactly was her message? She didn't even know herself.

She had abandoned hiding her true feelings, keeping what she really thought locked away behind a polite and demure façade. As a genin, she had made an effort to present the front she thought was expected; a tailored persona meant to appear to be the perfect example of future wife material for a shinobi to catch the eye of Sasuke. How ironic the only people who saw her true feelings were Ino, who didn't buy it for a minute after growing up together, and Naruto, whose opinion she hadn't cared about.

She was only being honest with Gaara, something she would have extended to anyone she was willing to cultivate a degree of closeness with. She was this way with Naruto, her sensei, her shishou and Shizune, the other shinobi from her rookie year, Temari-san and Kankuro somewhat. Her candor wasn't a special behavior towards Gaara.

She didn't want to lie to him. He didn't deserve it, and she'd hoped by showing him the person she was behind her professional personality, he might see where she was weak and had failed, and turn away.

She had been deliberately horrible to Naruto, hurt Sasuke with her ignorance, and been useless and shallow and stupid. She had grown out of some of it, she was sure. Learned her lessons the hard way, but that didn't mean she didn't have a lot of growing up left to do.

Maturity was not about a number on a calendar, it was about what you realized about how limited you were.

She had thought she knew everything. She didn't.

She had thought she was right in her opinions in conclusions. She was almost universally wrong.

She had thought she mattered, her opinions and wants mattered. In reality, very little.

She was so sure she was ready go out and do her own thing, had it all figure out. For her presumption she got emotionally battered and bruised. She supposed it was appropriate that she nearly crawled home after sessions with Tsunade-shishou. All she could do was work to increase what strength she did have, try to be in the right place, and just flat learn to deal.

No matter how upset she got, if she was going to be a good medic nin, or even a good shinobi she had to suck it up.

"I ran Sakura," Tsunade-shishou said as she wrapped hands Sakura had foolishly burned when she instinctively threw them up to block an underpowered explosive tag instead of somersaulting away as she should have.

"I couldn't cope. I was angry and hurt, and felt nobody got it." She carefully wrapped the snowy bandages over the raw, blistering flesh. "I had tried to change things and I watched Dan die instead. It was as though everything was pointless. Everything was unfair; nobody seemed upset enough or angry enough for me. So I just left."

Sakura wince as she passed over a particularly raw patch and Tsunade immediately administered soothing charka to help the pain.

"I threw everything away, all the while justifying it to myself." The older women sighed as she carefully released one of Sakura's hands and gingerly reached for the other. "Life isn't a play based on our wants." Honeyed eyes caught Sakura's to make sure she was absorbing this. "It took me most of my life to see this. I wasted it because I didn't get one thing I had wanted over everything else." Her smile was tinged with regret. "Fortunately, you are already wiser than I. Rather than fixating on that one thing and things as they are now, you are trying to make yourself stronger. You are learning to deal with what is."

The Hokage paused to get a new roll of bandages out of the small pack she had brought. Although chakra healed, the accelerated cell activity shortened the lifetime of the cells. In other words, it aged them. Bandages were better for injuries like hers unless the situation was life threatening.

"Having your heart broken once was a good lesson in how life really is." The Hokage smiled more gently. "You are an excellent example of understanding on a mental level of logic and rationale, but not truly getting it until you feel it yourself."

The Hokage gently released the newly wrapped hand, but Sakura didn't move her eyes from the Hokage's face. "Don't let the shock of how it feels when you learn you were wrong, no matter how badly, throw you. Keep doing what you know you need to do."

Sakura had wondered why Tsunade-shishou had ran, no matter how upset she was, but some things she had learned from overhearing snatches of conversation lead her to believe her treatments as a "Princess" had left her used to getting her way in the end, and she never really learned to deal with a huge loss that wasn't expected.

She also figured the stubborn focus of not giving up when she didn't get what she wanted also explained her gambling.

Sakura sighed internally. She had a lot to do yet, and who knew if she was going about doing it right. Maybe going after Sasuke would be the biggest mistake of her life, but there was only one way to find out.

And until she got all her past mistakes sorted out, as much as possible anyhow, she couldn't drag Gaara into her mess. She still had too much to do and definitely to learn.

"Gaara," she said, the disappointment in her voice causing his smile to fade, and she looked down at her hands in her lap. "I'm not sure why you think I'm so interesting, but I have a lot of stuff I still need to go and do. I can't stay and keep getting to know you."

She began to ready herself for a hurt reply from him, but she was shocked when he responded immediately and calmly.

"I know. I would have been very much surprised to hear differently." His gaze was calm and even, his voice smooth. "The opportunity to simply speak with you one on one is more than I anticipated possible, and your honesty and sincerity even more so."

Sakura felt her head spinning just slightly. He continued speaking in that even tone, carefully watching her reaction.

"I know we will part ways after your mission is concluded, and it will be sometime before we see each other again. It is enough for me that you might want to see me again."

That did it. A curling warmth begin to weave its way around her heart as he continued to watch her with undivided attention, waiting patiently for her response.

Darn it, she was about to hyperventilate! What was with her and falling for emotionally damage, socially isolated guys? Was she some sort of masochist?

Unbidden, an image of her and Gaara together wearing not-that-much in leather, with her tied up and bent over a table with Gaara behind her holding a ridding crop jumped to mind.

She blushed madly and squashed the image, then noted the faint, but very real, knowing smirk on Gaara's face.

As quickly as the blood in her face had rushed in, it drained away.

_Kakashi-sensei, I hate you so much you pervert!_

*****O*****

"AH-CHOO!"

"Are you alright, Kakashi-sempai?" Tenzo asked as his former captain sneezed hard enough to partially dislodge his hitai-ite from his forehead as they walked through the market district in the middle of the village.

"Yeah, that was odd." Kakashi reached to adjusted the cloth back over his acquired eye, looking around carefully with his normal one. "Now where… YES!"

He reached out and snatched Tenzo's jounin vest to pull him closer as he pointed spastically at a nearby bookstall and shouted so loudly the trapped ANBU winced.

"Icha Icha the leather bound silver embossed limited Collectors Edition compilation including cut scenes and never before seen color illustrations!" He jerked his surprised friend to his face, wide-eyed. "We have to go get it! Right now!"

*****O*****

"Ah, well," Sakura flustered, "we'll just have to see then, right?"

Gaara smiled again, with full confidence, and Sakura felt like she was going to melt into a puddle.

_Get a grip, Sakura. Get a grip._

There was a knock a the door which lead directly from the sitting room, the first room of Gaara's quarters, to the adjoining hallway.

Gaara swung his head towards the sound. "Enter."

The door opened to reveal a young kunoichi she didn't recognize, her long brown hair more thick enough to drive Ino wild with jealousy.

"Baki-san sent me, Kazekage-sama. A letter has arrived from Konoha marked with emblem of the Hyuuga."

Sakura was already rising to her feet and readying to follow Gaara, who was even faster, to the door. Gaara answered the messenger.

"We'll meet in the main conference room again. If someone has not sent for Tetsubin-sensei, do so."

"Hai!"

* * *

AN: For those who don't know, Tenzo is the actual name of Yamato-taichou, and 100 geek points to whoever can correctly name who the new kunoichi is.

I don't know if it is expressly stated in the manga or anime, but I'm sure Gaara figured out Naruto has the Kyuubi.

Review if you like it!


	8. Neither Here Nor There

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 8

Sheaves of paper were scattered about the workspace like great swathes of wind blown sands, their notes hastily scribbled on them in blotted ink. The flickering lights of the lantern revealed the smudges the writer had made on the papers lying in piles and thrown half crumpled on desk and floor in her carelessness.

Normally, Sakura wouldn't let even the quick jotting down of half formed thoughts be so messy and disorganized, her attention to detail and desire for easily sorted information didn't allow for it, but the information whirling through her brain fast enough to cause physical vertigo barely allowed her legibility as she scribbled, let alone neatness.

The information that had been in Hinata's dispatch had left her stunned, not only in its content, but also in the amount of time Hinata and the other Hyuuga must have dedicated to retrieving it for them. The time required to recall Neji from the field so he could decode the material in the dispatch and work through it had given Sakura just enough time to get some sleep before a mountain of information was dropped in front of her.

The travel-stained Neji and Kiba, a very weary Matsuri who had apparently been run ragged playing 'gopher' upon their return, and Gaara, Kankuro, and Baki all stood at the cleared off conference table with her as she felt her fingers practically itch to grab the stack of papers that had been marked as Medical and begin tearing through it.

She was quickly learning Gaara was just as to the point as Temari. He barely looked to the side as he ordered, "A brief summary of critical information."

Neji, whose pale eyes were slightly gummy from the recent rush of work, nevertheless spoke clearly and readily.

"The Gold Country was never known to have noteworthy talents with seals, or ever known to have tampered with water supplies, though it was noted they were shinobi who had water type chakra dominant types mixed in with predominately earth types." Neji shifted his attention to Sakura specifically, and green eyes looked into white. "There was however reports of a rare kekkei genkai."

Sakura felt her attention redouble and noticed Baki out of the corner of her eye as he leaned in, clearly hearing something new to him.

"This kekkei genkai let the Gold shinobi store exceptional amounts of chakra for use in jutsus. The shinobi with this ability were easy to recognize, as they appeared swollen when they had stored up extra chakra, and after using their reserves were reported to have their skin hang from their frame, similar to a person who had recently suffered rapid weight loss."

All eyes, with the exception of those of Matsuri, who was all but face down on the unyielding wood of the table in exhaustion, turned to the medic, anticipating her thoughts.

"That would certainly be a useful jutsu for transferring large amounts of chakra." She took a moment to think. "I need to review the letter for more details. But, that doesn't tell us how the seal works."

"How much charka could these guys store, Neji?" Kiba asked, sharply focused on the exchange.

"The best users could hold five times the expected chakra of a jounin of their size and inferred ability."

Kiba let out a low whistle and Kankuro's eyebrows shot up towards his pointy-eared hood. A talented jounin could have frighteningly deep reserves. Her readings of Hoshigaki Kisame of the Mist Village came to mind.

"How about chakra based attacks and genjutsu?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"Aside from pure storage capacity, nothing of note."

"How about their ability to hide themselves?" Kankuro asked, leaning on one elbow as he looked around Kiba, who was seated between him and the tired Hyuuga.

Neji shifted his eyes in Kankuro's direction, but did not quite really turn to face him. Sakura wondered what those two might have done to each other out in the field.

"The Gold Country nin were very adept at using the ground, as we have already learned." He returned his focus to address the group at large. "Their jutsu is very similar to that of the Rock shinobi, and they are especially good at using caves and similar systems as a base of operations and designing jutsu for that environment."

Neji paused and looked at the mop of greasy brown hair that was Matsuri, who seemed to realize she was being focused on as she yanked herself upright of the table, having been the only one to take a seat. She blinked owlishly at Neji, then seemed to remember what was expected of her.

"Oh, ah." She coughed once to clear out her throat, and then began to speak. "I have a theory. I think these guys might be taking advantage of the quicksand at the oasis we found them at." Her voice got stronger as she continued. "We all kind of assumed the shinobi had moved in because we triggered an alarm at the quicksand pits, but what if they had been there first?"

Kankuro narrowed his eyes in thought, and Gaara tilted his head ever so slightly.

"They came when we began messing around in the water, which would be connected to the river that causes the quicksand anyway. If there were warning jutsus in the quicksand pits, it would be pretty much impossible to find them because of the sands' churning."

"Is there a basis for this in the dispatch from Konoha?" Baki looked unconvinced.

"Not explicitly, but I believe her theory to be worth exploring," Neji replied confidently.

The discussion had lasted a few more hours before they had been dismissed. Neji, Kiba, who had also helped with decoding, and Matsuri no doubt went to get some rest before they all returned to the field.

Sakura sat back in the chair at the desk in her private study, more than used to the shape and hardness of the wood after sitting in it so long and quite comfortable despite it's utilitarian style. She wasn't getting anywhere with her random scribbling. People were going to think she had hypergraphia.

She placed her elbows on the desktop and her head in her hands, breathing in careful, deep breaths, and silently cursing Suna coffee.

_Okay, the basics. Get it organized, Sakura._

Although the Five Countries villages had naturally organized such that chakra types tended towards complementary regions, that didn't mean those types were the only one found in the region, or even an as overwhelming majority there. It was logical that ninjas would settle in terrain that complemented their dominant chakra type to use it as an advantage.

At the same time, political upheavals and natural disasters threw groups around whenever and wherever they occurred. There had been a major influx of water users into the Fire Country from Water early in that nations history, bringing in shinobi to compete with the native Uchiha. It was why so many of the Senju clan that founded Konoha were water types, including the mixed chakra of the Shodaime Hokage and the exclusive and incredible water chakra of the Nidaime Hokage.

That bit of history also explained how Tsunade-shishou ended up with a name that means 'mooring rope', something that had puzzled Sakura when she was an academy student reading from her textbooks.

Neji had said there were a significant number of water chakra types mixed in with the largely earth type shinobi in the Gold Country. Thinking on that, kunai calloused hands flipped through the papers she had been wildly annotating to pull out the report she was looking for. The kekkei genkai had been used by soldiers that seemed to be able to use wind, water, or earth based attacks. It was possible then these were somehow feeding the seal at the oasis.

That still didn't tell her how the chakra was staying raw though, and the chakra released by the Gold shinobi would still require a nature type to be manifested for a jutsu so complicated, and the chakra they saw definitely had no type. In fact, it was more like nature chakra.

_All right, so what if something has changed since then?_ The latest report was eighty years old after all. There was the collapse of the Whirlpool after it fell to the Water Country in the last major war. Had displaced Whirlpool shinobi fled as far as the southern part of the Earth Country? Did they have any special jutsu for this situation? Their skills would certainly help with making jutsu for quicksand.

_Okay, so then how does that relate to the disease aspect?_ The infected had their chakra networks fail. _How does what the Gold nin perform as a jutsu cause the chakra to become tainted?_

She had another migraine coming on. Sakura raised her hand to rub at the junction above her nose as a twinge began to form there. She exhaled heavily.

A memory floated up in her tiredness. A black haired boy, screaming in agony as a black pattern of oily flames oozed it's way across his shaking skin. An ache in her heart matched the growing pain her head. She mentally answered the offering of her subconscious.

_Yeah, but that was a direct transfer of chakra._ And heaven only knew what that evil freak Orochimaru had done to himself to make that possible. If there were any contaminants in the patients, they would have found it.

Her ribcage expanded as she sighed deeply. She needed to take a walk.

*****O*****

The expanse of shrub covered land just before the steppes appeared unchanged from the time of their last visit. The hard packed earth scorched near lifeless beneath a merciless sun. The few stubborn prickly plants that did live did not show any sign of any persons having passed through any more than the dust did.

Neji pushed more chakra into his Byakugan, fighting the burning in his eyes the extra sharpness of vision brought in the brilliant sun. On his back right, Kiba and Akamaru were working, Akamaru pawing at the brittle shed skin of a molting scorpion while Kiba muttered about "more freaking lizards".

Close by, Kankuro and Matsuri were atop a sandy, sun-drenched boulder, discussing the land with each other in detail.

"Not this time of year," Matsuri was saying insistently with her hands planted defiantly on her hips, her chin tilted upward in defiance, trying to win an argument.

"Yes, this time of year," Kankuro countered looking down his painted nose and speaking as though he were speaking to someone slow.

Neji indulged himself with a snort at the genius counterpoint. He stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes and turned to regard the pair with normal vision. Matsuri, now much better camouflaged in earth tones, was standing with Kankuro atop a boulder looking at a crack in the soil that clear water was flowing up from before flattening out into a shallow, glittering stream.

"No, here, I'll show you," Matsuri claimed reaching for the jouhyou she had in her belt.

While she readied her weapon, Kankuro stiffened with awareness and then lazily turned in Neji's direction.

"Need something?" He sounded bored.

"What is the disagreement about?" Neji called back neutrally.

"The water depth here, Neji-taichou," Matsuri answered back brightly as she carefully kneeled beside the break in the earth and Kankuro all but ignored him.

Neji watched her begin to lower the steel point on the weapon into the shadowed water. She was going to use it as a sounder. He jumped lightly across the dust to land near where the genin was carefully balanced at the edge of the boulder, looking down into the muddy gap.

"This time of year, the river should be, oh, one meter," she explained, lining up the weight with the silently flowing natural pipe. "When it gets really low in high summer it'll get down to about a third of that."

She had said she was interested in becoming an elite geologist, particularly in regards to hydrogeology and mineralogy, when she was demonstrating her skills with her weapon for him. Neji supposed watching her sensei casually use mountains to literally crush people might have influenced her decision making process.

The metal point began to touch the water and Matsuri frowned. "Huh?"

The loop of rope that she had gathered in her small hand to slowly lower the point she released, and Neji watched in shock as the metal plunged through the water as though it didn't exist. Or rather, that it had descended through empty air. A genjutsu.

Neji quickly moved to cancel it, feeling Kankuro doing the same and seeing Matsuri raise two raised fingers in front of her nose to do so as well.

"Kai!"

A flicker of a dark gap in the earth, then the cheerfully gurgling stream, complete with the sound of the trickling flow, returned.

"A continuous genjutsu. Wow." Matsuri considered for a moment, quickly looked to Kankuro on her left, and then Neji on her right. She grinned sheepishly. "Um, Neji-taichou…"

"Here." He understood her thought process and offered his hand. As she took it he lifted her onto his shoulders, staggering slightly as she offset his balance. She was heavier than she seemed.

Kankuro watched silently, understanding the plan.

Continuous genjutsu required contact with an object if the caster wasn't nearby to constantly refresh it themselves. In their position, considering the seal they had uncovered earlier, it had to be the rock they were on. If Matsuri were up in the air on his shoulders and out of contact, she would no longer be affected.

After the short kunoichi had clambered up and Neji had a firm grip on her narrow calves, Matsuri lifted her hands in the air.

"Kai!" There was a quickly inhaled breath from above him. "Oh, wow! The whole thing's been moved!"

Beside him, Kankuro looked confused. "What?"

"Where the river comes up!" Matsuri's voice came from above his head. "It's been moved, the whole thing is dry. The genjutsu was covering that the water stopped." She pointed around to the side of the boulder, as indicated by the shift in her weight and Kankuro turning his head. Neji looked as well to see the grainy deep brown of quicksand immediately beside the boulder. "What looked, or looks, like a quicksand pond right there is the new spring. Right here is all dry."

"What else do you see? Any marks?" Neji asked, wanting to know more about what he couldn't see.

"What's up?" Kiba and Akamaru landed heavily nearby on the dusty boulder.

"Uh, no seals." Matsuri's weight shifted so she could see something better, and one of her hands clapped the top of his head for balance. "Lots of lizard tracks, though."

Kiba gave a low angry laugh, exposing his long canines. "They're everywhere around here. But what are you doing?" He looked at the girl up in the air.

"A genjutsu." She sounded a little impatient. "And I mean a LOT of lizard tracks. And it's only lizard tracks. No snakes, no scorpions, no tarantulas, and just a few bugs."

Neji failed to follow her reasoning but he was interrupted by Kankuro.

"That isn't normal, and with a genjutsu even worse." He scowled as looked at Neji and Kiba. "We need to look at this more closely."

*****O*****

The corridor was quiet this time of night. Sakura leaned back against the smooth surface of the wall and expanded her senses. There were patients nearby, one of who was restless in his sleep; the sounds of rapid movements against sheets like legs kicking and grunts and mutters of discomfort meet her ear. Sakura looked in the direction of the room, and picked up a familiar chakra signature. Tetsubin-sensei was attending the patient.

Pushing herself forward away from the wall, she inhaled deeply to keep from yawning as she walked quietly towards the door and leaned around the frame to look into the room. Tetsubin-sensei noticed her immediately, looking over his shoulder in her direction, the clipboard of the patient in his hands.

"Haruno-san," he acknowledged softly.

Sakura treaded quietly over to stand beside the doctor, her medic's eyes carefully analyzing the patient. The older looking man was pale and sweaty, and appeared to be underweight. He was clenching his quaking hands into fists where they gripped the sweat-dampened sheets, and his face was contorted into a white lipped expression of agony.

"A withdrawal patient?" Sakura deduced, as the man gasped painfully.

Tetsubin-sensei nodded, sighing in a long-suffering manner. "In the middle of detox." He lifted the top sheet of the patient's information and scanned the contents. "I'm just now getting a chance to review his case. He came in a few days ago, but since it wasn't an emergency I haven't really made the time."

Given the number of patients suffering from the tainted chakra, that was no surprise at all. Sakura leaned over to spy on the chart. A civilian man in his mid fifties who had been admitted when…

"The Suna ANBU brought him over?" She barely remembered to keep her voice down.

"He was found when Baki-san and his men raided the self-declared Spice Baron's compound," he explained, leaning over and handing her the chart, which she began to rapidly read through, taking in the black ink on white paper in a blur of motion. A pulse of disgust flared up in Sakura that the man's employer had medical aid withheld to protect the illegal business. The tall doctor stood up straight again before continuing. "He had gotten into a plant that is typical used by shinobi as a stimulant called Traveler's Chew. The odd civilian who fancies himself a great athlete or physical specimen will foolishly use it as well."

Nimble fingers swiftly flipped through the papers on the clipboard in a rustle of noise as Sakura came to the page that contained the man's tox read out. She shook her head slightly in confusion. Nothing?

"Tetsubin-sensei, this man's tox readout is blank." Sakura tilted the form towards the much more experienced doctor, her face openly expressing her puzzlement.

"It should be." He didn't act even slightly surprised as he sympathetically watched the man on the bed writhe in pain. "Traveler's Chew interacts with the chakra network on a metaphysical level, somewhat like a seal, only far more intricately. It's actually from the same family of plants as the species used to make ink for seal and summons contracts. Once it's fully digested there's no trace left in the system."

The man must have noticed her odd behavior, because he turned to look at her, dark eyes full of concern. "Haruno-san?"

She couldn't have gotten her body to unfreeze if she tried. All her energy shot into brain, trying, scrambling to make the connection that was just of reach. Snatches of thought flashed across her mind as she stood stock still, ideas crashing into each other and fading out before they had a chance to fully form before being overwhelmed by the next thought that exploded into being.

…PLANTchakra_tainted_damagesthesystem_raw_asealSEALblinded_thechakranetwork_GoldGOLD…

The breath barely past her trembling lips. "Wait…"

A kekkei genkai that stored chakra and a plant that boosts it's output? That worked well with seals and summons? But that plant also damaged the chakra network. Another patients chart jumped into her mind, written in the neat script of a person now passed on.

_Tobitake was in the southern regions of the Earth Country with the rest of our squad when unidentified shinobi struck him with the jutsu… The raw chakra burns are similar to the damage done by the Hyuuga…_

_…raw…_

Her voice was so soft she barely heard herself. "No trace."

"Haruno-san, are you alright?"

"Tetsubin-sensei!" She whirled on the man so fast he jumped and reflexively brought up a hand to protect his face. "How do you perform detox for Traveler's Chew?"

It was a testament to his calm under stress that he didn't even hesitate. "A series of steroids, metabolic stimulants, numerous-" he cut off, a light of realization flashing in his eyes. "The illness? Traveler's Chew? How?"

"It's being processed in the original users body then slid into raw chakra sent into the water supply," Sakura explained, her mind still buzzing loudly as her mind began to accept and reject possible details. "No trace. We thought their systems were failing, but it was in the chakra the whole time. Tobitake, my patient in Konoha, was in the southern Earth Country when he was attacked."

She didn't continue as the doctor's eyes opened in shock.

The Gold Country ninja had learned to weaponize raw chakra and apply it at a distance.

"Please go inform Baki-san of what you have found." Tetsubin-sensei was immediately returning to the cool professional. "I will inform Temari-sama and begin to work on the cure."

"Hai." Sakura spun on her heel and disappeared out the door. Behind her, she heard Tetsubin-sensei curse softly at the sounds of the detox patient vomiting profusely on the floor.

*****O*****

Her hospital room, though well lit and full of reflective whites, was still small. Small to begin with, and increasingly so as she had been forced to stay inside its four walls. With all these people crammed in it, she was ready to just grab her fan and blast her way out.

"Sakura, sit on my bed her so we have more room," Temari told the medic while patting the empty space next to where she was sitting cross-legged in her hospital robe. The toll of sitting up and concentrating was making her tired and impatient. Her head was already on its way to a headache.

Sakura waved a dismissive hand, nearly catching Baki's face with her blunt fingernails as she did so. "No that's okay. I'll-"

She felt her lips purse in annoyance before she shot out one hand to grab the smaller kunoichi's wrist and force her down on the woven blanket beside her. "Just sit already."

She looked askance at the mildly embarrassed medic as she made herself comfortable and adjusted her jostled hitai-ite. Temari then looked around at the group, then to Gaara. "What do we have?"

Her brother stood with his arms crossed, carefully thinking over what had been revealed.

"Sakura-san's theory about the Traveler's Chew is supported both by the trade records and what we have seen in the patients."

Despite, her tiredness, Temari didn't miss the subtle pinking across Sakura's nose at the more familiar form of address. Gaara shifted his eyes towards Tetsubin-sensei.

"I have asked the rest of the Medical Corps to collect the information regarding effects of Traveler's Chew when ingested and during withdrawal." Tetsubin-sensei held up a notepad, his dark eyes quickly flitting across the lines written on it. "I also included the information on Tobitake Tonbo, the injured chuunin from Konoha that Haruno-san has had as a patient."

Sakura immediately filled in more information. "It took the team who first treated Tobitake-san a while to understand his injuries and treat them. I've already relied everything I can remember and sent a message to Konoha to request a copy of his file."

Temari immediately planned to not let Sakura leave her room until she had heard everything there was to know about this case.

"Are you ready to try a new treatment yet?" Temari asked the doctor.

"Not yet, but soon."

"What would the Gold shinobi's usage tell us about the shinobi using it?" A line had appeared in the middle of Baki's forehead as he considered what the new information meant for the soldiers in the field.

Temari grinned at the inquiry. Baki was naturally more concerned about capturing those responsible than any medical specifics. He was always more of a "blow them up and now and ask questions later" kind of guy though he'd mellowed out after becoming a jounin-sensei and witnessing the disaster in Konoha.

As opposed to Kankuro, whose plan was "blow them up, and who cares why?".

Again, Sakura spoke up from beside of her, relaying information with professional precision. "We are operating under the assumption the Gold shinobi are using one or more members with the kekkei genkai to generate inhuman amounts of chakra tainted with the Traveler's Chew. The chakra is then sent into a seal using the unique jutsu that can move raw chakra without it degenerating from where that shinobi is to be transported via a summoning jutsu to the seal on the rock. There it is released from the seal into the water, still stable.

"From this, we can assume the shinobi who are using the Chew are suffering it's negative effects, and therefore in poor health. They are all but certainly remaining in one location, well guarded. And given the history of the Gold Country tactics, in a cavern of some sort. I also believe they are stationed as close to the seal as possible to minimize the area they guard and to maintain easy access in the event of repairs."

Baki looked unconvinced, regarding Sakura with a partial frown of confusion. "The nearest true cave system is the mines in the mountains beyond the steppes to the north. Wouldn't that be too far?"

Temari felt her eyebrows draw together at that. True. The few caves near Suna were little more than shallow depressions in the sandstone rock created by long dead rivers, and, on top of the distance to the mountains at the northern border, they would need to ask the Earth Country daimyo for permission to enter the mines and caves that honeyed combed the range. That would require a formal written request to their own daimyo, and an endless minefield of bureaucracy. Something they definitely didn't need right now.

Or ever.

"Probably," Sakura admitted. "But the shinobi who ambushed Kankuro-san's squad were definitely stationed close by unless it was mere bad luck they happened to be there."

Tetsubin-sensei came to her defense. "Depending on how long they have been planning this, and we know from the traitors in the village it has been months at least, they could have created a small underground refuge near the oasis for their use."

"Then that is what we will relay to the teams in the north." Gaara, who had been listening with this head lowered and eyes closed, looked sharply at Baki, letting the older man know he was now issuing orders. "Send a summary of information regarding what to search for as well as instructions to send any insights back immediately. I am sure Hyuuga-san will have thoughts to add to Sakura-san's theories."

Temari felt a small bubble of pride rise up at the last sentence. The major chewing out she had given her little brother concerning his utter failure to flirt properly with Sakura during their morning 'date' had apparently sunken in.

Too bad that rise was also accompanied by a touch of bile. She suppressed the nausea that had been attacking her stomach at increasingly short intervals, especially now that her kidneys were beginning to actually ache.

"I'll be waiting for his response then," Sakura replied dutifully.

Gaara turned to regard her for a moment, then uncrossed his arms and strode purposefully across to the closed door to her hospital room. Temari had just enough time to be curious before Gaara opened it and looked out into the hallway.

"Genin, come here."

At the summons, a brown-haired, coltish genin Temari recognized as being a brand new graduate from the Academy scurried in, looking ready to faint dead away as she took in the influential people in the room. She looked to Gaara with light colored, awe filled eyes.

"Your name?" he asked gently. For him anyway. The poor girl totally missed it.

"S-Sari, Kazekage-sama."

"Sari-kun, tell your sensei I have reassigned you to be Haruno Sakura-san's personal page until further notice. Do whatever she requires of you." The order was given with the bizarre casual gravity Gaara somehow naturally had, and Sari all but saluted like the daimyo's honor guard in reaction.

"Hai! Kazekage-sama!" The girl turned to pin a startled Sakura with a fervor that would have been creepy in its intensity under different circumstances.

"We will conclude for now," Gaara said, totally unfazed by the behavior of the genin that had even Baki looking mildly concerned. "Everyone keep contact. Dismissed."

*****O*****

When the signal had reached Kankuro, the jounin and de facto captain had signaled the group to retreat into the dunes for security before readying to receive the message sent from Suna.

The more time Kiba spent in the desert, the more he came to hate it. He was sure he was going to be digging sand out of what should be sand inaccessible regions of himself for a long time to come. As he squinted against the glare of the sun on dunes and did his best to shrug of the perpetual heat coming from sky and sands, the puppet nin rolled out a scroll and activated the seal placed on it, causing a message scroll to appear in the middle, accompanied by a puff of quickly dispersed smoke.

Kankuro immediately picked up and unfurled the bright red outer layer of the message casing and began to read the message.

Neji waited with his usual decorum and Matsuri settled for mostly quiet sighs as the black robed nin treated the pressures of the environment like they were nothing.

"Your medic is impressive." The blandly stated remark had Kiba's eyebrow shoot up as Akamaru lay panting beside him.

Kankuro brought the scroll down and addressed the group. "According to this, Haruno-san had figured out both how this jutsu works and a possible treatment, and Baki-sensei has sent details about where we might find our targets."

Matsuri nearly jumped up and down where she stood in excitement, barely surprising squeals. Neji was far more reserved as he extended a hand for the scroll, which Kankuro handed him with only a moment's pause.

Overwhelmed with relief and building anticipation, Kiba wasn't worried about the chain of command. "What are we looking for?"

_Sakura, you're amazing._ He had trusted through this entire nightmare that Shino was safe with Sakura, and now he had his faith justified. She would fix the rest of this, he was sure. Now it was time for him to do what he did best.

Track down who was responsible and make them regret ever threatening someone he cared about.

_You can run…_

He felt himself smiling again for the first time in a while, the thrill of the hunt setting in afresh.

_… but you'll die tired._

"Caves."

Matsuri's small dance halted itself in surprise, and Kiba felt the connection form.

"No," he breathed somewhere between a word and a laugh. "You're kidding me!"

With what they had found?

"The emptied water chamber!" Matsuri had come to the same conclusion, and spun to face Neji her expression astonished. "They redirected the river to make a cave system to hide in because there are no natural cave systems nearby! We found them already!"

"We found evidence of their activity, but we don't know how long ago it was used and if it still used now," Neji replied coolly. "We also don't know how big the cavern is, how far it stretches, and it's connections, fortifications, or the number of shinobi within."

"Well, I can give you an idea," Matsuri offered earnestly.

"We'll need more than that." Kiba thought through some potential problems, including his unfamiliarity with fighting underground. "We need to call for back up."

"Right," Kankuro grunted. Reaching into the pack on his back above the scroll he kept for summoning his puppets, Kankuro removed the ink and blank scroll necessary for composing and sending a reply.

*****O*****

The more distant rooms of the Hokage tower were often empty during uneventful times. The extra rooms reserved for occasions when every ninja's talents were required were cleaned only incrementally, and a slightly musty smell permeated the air.

Her nose wrinkling delicately at the slight odor and the smell of dry dust and mildew, Shizune made her way down the wood-floored hallway, the collection of documents typed out after Sakura's personal cipher had been decoded held tightly in her hands.

Secrecy aside, the shinobi assigned to administration could not have failed to notice the eagerness with which the Hokage's assistant took the messages from her fellow apprentice. Hagane didn't even bother to try to hide his curiosity or observe protocols for classified information and asked her outright about what Sakura was doing on her assignment. At least it seemed his inquiry came from a genuine concern about the well-being of a young chuunin he saw everyday when she wasn't on a mission and not just uncontrolled nosiness.

Shizune didn't pause as she came to the final door in the long hallway, buried within the building away from both sunshine and easy access by those who had no business being there. She grasped the handle and opened the door on the team that she had been assigned to work with to analyze on the copy of the seal found in the Wind Country's massive deserts.

Anko regarded her with tense eyes as Shizune strode into the room. She quickly used her fingers to separate out a packet of papers and handed it to the seal expert, before beginning to count out the next set and readying to speak.

"These are the latest dispatches from Sakura in Suna, with an additional letter of comment from Neji."

She swiftly handed a copy of the papers to Shiho, who was immediately enchanted with the wealth of information.

"Oooh." She awed audibly, staring with her jaw slightly dropped in fascination and he glasses glinting cheerily.

Shikamaru didn't even open his eyes or get up from his slouch against the wall as he slowly held out a hand to accept the papers dropped in them.

"When did these get her?" Anko asked, lavender eyes critically analyzing the contents of the dispatch.

"Just now."

Anko let a half smile quirk her lip but Shizune ignored it. So what if Hagane had caught her on her way to the ladies room?

Shizune whirled around, causing her dark hair to spin out from her face as she placed her and Ibiki's packs on the table. Whatever he was off doing, the scarred interrogator could claim it when he arrived.

"Neji's team has made major breakthrough's in Suna," she began without preamble, causing all the attention to immediately focus on her. She snatched up her collection of papers and yanked out a dog-eared document. "This page discusses a probable means of generating the chakra used in the attack, and outlines how Sakura and the Suna Medical Teams believe the disease pathology operates."

Shizune rapidly drew out and placed next to the seal on the table a copy of the chakra network and it's 361 tenketsu points, marked by the arrows she hastily put down while waiting for the communications division to finish decoding the entire message.

"With this new information, we need to see what we can do to better understand this seal." The information was going to be necessary if there was more than one seal or if someone decided to attempt to use it again.

It would be very unwise to leave it unsolved.

Shikamaru's bored frown deepened into a scowl as he read the message. "An obscure bloodline trait?" He sighed to himself. "Figures."

*****O*****

The laboratories of the hospital were in a flurry of chaos now that there was something to work with regarding finding an actual cure for the illness, rather than merely treating the systems and attempting to make those losing the battle as comfortable as possible. Vials clinked and syringes clattered on to the metal trays as the pharmaceuticals and emergency care mixed in a whirl of fast moving color and raucous noise, all somehow kept from a total collapse under the watchful eye of Tetsubin-sensei.

None of it would have been possible without Hinata. She needed to remember to thank her in person when she returned to Konoha.

Rather than risk disrupting the patterned, controlled chaos as it always seemed to be in hospitals at times like this, Sakura had retreated to her office to give her brain a break after pushing it non-stop since the arrival of Konoha's decoded letter into her hands.

She would have liked a chance to just relax, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

The hair trigger anxiety radiating off of her attentive 'page' could have been harnessed to power a small civilian security system.

She invited Sari to join in her in the tiny though still comfortable sitting room she had and prepared tea, but Sakura couldn't convince the young genin to calm down. She watched the girl fidget in the simple padded chair in anticipation of a request, barely sipping at her rapidly cooling tea.

"Sari," Sakura said in as nonchalant a voice as possible, though the girl still snapped to attention. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself? How long have you been out of the academy?"

Sari blinked with large, light brown eyes, then distracted herself by adjusting the kerchief like cloth over her hair that she used to hold her hitai-ite. "Eh…"

"Uh, my name is Sari and I'm from the eastern section of Suna, uh, I just graduated and working as a messenger now was my third D rank mission." The girl turned her eyes upward as she tried to think of something else to say.

Sakura kept a pleasant expression while wincing on the inside. This was less than smooth. "You're actually the second Suna genin I've worked with. Gaara-sama's student Matsuri is also working with my team."

Sari's eyes swung back down and met Sakura's.

"Yeah, I heard. Matsuri and I live in the same neighborhood."

"Really?" Finally, maybe they could have a talk without Sari having a heart attack. "Are you friends then?"

"Sort of." Sari used her hand to tuck her thick hair behind her ear. "She's older than I am and all." She took a moment to sip from the porcelain teacup. "She got picked on a lot where she used to live, so she was kind of shy when she moved to where my family lives. She's really gotten over it though." She amended quickly.

"May I ask why?" Sakura didn't want to be rude, but she wondered just what about the dedicated student had drawn that kind of attention.

"It's because she's half and half." The girl replied in a casual manner suggesting the topic was a frequent one in Suna. "Some people pick on people like us, but where Matsuri used to live she was pretty much the only half and half so she got it pretty bad."

Sari looked calm and collected, no longer fidgeting, though the slightly distanced look in her eyes suggested she was going through some memories.

The Konoha kunoichi watched the raw genin remember and wonder about what she had said. Matsuri had dark eyes, but lighter hair and light skin compared to other people in Suna. Sari was certainly lighter.

"Is it unusual to have a parent from Suna and one from somewhere else?"

Sari's expression was they kind usually accompanied by a shrug. "Not really. It's just some people think that people who come from other regions as refugee's drain or somehow damage Suna's culture by being different. When I was kid, mean kids would say that." She folded her long legs under herself, and Sakura noted the proportions she had and her age indicated she was likely going to be taller than average. "I haven't heard any name calling since I graduated though. I think it's more of a kid thing."

Considering that the current Kazekage and his family were 'half and half', especially Gaara and Temari not looking like natives of the desert all, Sakura couldn't help but find the mentality odd. But logical was never behind such immature behavior. Kids jumped on who was different, finding a 'flaw' to exploit, and then gang behavior took over. She had been the lowest in the pecking order as an academy student before meeting Ino, simply because she had a large forehead.

Then again, 'Matsuri' and 'Sari' were both very strongly names associated with Suna culture and it's unique naming traditions. Maybe it had been a problem in the previous generation.

"My Dad's family is from Suna, but my Mom's family came from Rain Country," Sari offered, seemingly distracted by the granules in the bottom her teacup, swirling the green tinted liquid.

"Are you the only shinobi in your family?" Maybe they had that in common.

Sari stopped swirling the cup. "No, my Dad is." She paused then. The silence was heavy. "My parents are both sick."

"Ah." One of the severe downsides of the hospital was encountering the little kids whose parents were ill. Those whose parents weren't going to make it were even worse.

"Sari-kun." The girl looked up, heavy curtain of hair parting around her face as she did so. "Let's go check on Tetsubin-sensei's progress."

A rapid nod and the genin was setting her teacup back down carefully. Sakura decided to live the dishes for later and led the way to the door.

"Um, Sakura-san?"

Sakura turned to look over her shoulder at Sari as she pulled the door open, waiting for her to speak. The girl twirled a lock of hair around her finger anxiously before speaking abruptly.

"Are you the only shinobi in your family?"

Sakura smiled a little at the slightly incredulous expression and knew what she was thinking. The old bias that said a shinobi had to be from a clan to be truly exceptional.

"Yup." She smiled more brightly. "It's just me."

She internally laughed at the expression of disbelief on Sari's face before the girl came scrambling after her.

*****O*****

The message in written on the paper clutched in his hand was the first piece of information to arrive in a while to actually make sense.

Baki mulled over what would be the most efficient reaction after discussing the military situation with his Kage. An extensive unexplored cave system full of Gold nin effectively guaranteed the enemy any and all advantage. The challenge was going to be to minimize loses. There was little chance of reconnaissance in such a location, and he was already certain after their encounter with the Hyuuga, they would have used their knowledge of his Byakugan to nullify its abilities and render as useless as possible.

It didn't help that there were effectively no more shinobi available now.

His quick strides brought him through the bustling hospital hallway to Temari's room, where Gaara had said he could be found. A chattering group of nurses in the stone carved corridor that he had passed by on his way in from the Tower had been quietly discussing the promising new treatment that Tetsubin-sensei had been working on non-stop. One of them must have been assigned to the pathology lab, because she could barely contain her excitement, speaking as loudly and animatedly as she dared with hands wildly gesticulating to her closely listening audience, as she described the improvement in just the cell cultures when the new round of medicines was applied.

The group obviously had high hopes for trying the treatment in people, but knew better than to let any of the patients overhear and get their hopes raised in the event the treatment didn't work as expected.

Baki stopped at the door to Temari's room and opened slowly, stepping in to see Gaara with his head leaned forward, clearly listening carefully to what Temari was saying from her seat on her bed to him in a low tone, clearly meant for his ears only. The jounin sensei waited for Gaara to nod to show he understood what the blonde had said before he turned his attention to the new arrival.

Baki held up the message. "Important news from Kankuro-sama."

"Oh?" Temari immediately brightened with interest, one eyebrow arched high as she spun on her haunches to face her former teacher fully.

It was Baki's turn to nod as he held the note up to read as Gaara crossed his arms to listen.

"A genjutsu was discovered that hid the entrance to an underground base. The Gold shinobi and any allies have drained the underwater rivers so that they can use the empty tunnels that remain." He handed the note to Gaara, who gave it a cursory read.

"How big and how long have these tunnels been in place?" Temari questioned.

"We don't know at this time." That was question central. If the system had been put in place around the time they bought access to the Traveler's Chew, it could be the result of months of preparation and reinforcements. The assault could be more like assaulting an underground fortress than a poorly defend base of rabble ninja.

"Kankuro has no reason to believe the enemy knows of this discovery." Gaara took the lack of information in the note relating to such as a sign. "This situation may not last very long, we should move on the Gold Country shinobi before the realize we know."

He hand the message over as Temari demanded, "Here let me see that."

"Hai," Baki agreed. "I hope for your permission to begin reassigning forces to that end." He hated the next words. "We may have to reduce the city watch."

"It says here there is an extraordinary of lizard tracks around the entrance," Temari noted as she scanned the note, almost speaking to herself. She looked back up. "That's very strange. Could they be attracted to something in the drained river bed?"

"Hard to know," Baki replied, as there was a flicker of chakras on the other side of the door to the hallway.

Sakura opened the door, her face open slightly in surprise at all gathered, followed closely by Tetsubin-sensei and the genin Sari.

"I am glad to see you all here," Tetsubin-sensei said. "Do you have a moment?"

"What is it?" Temari rubbed two fingers back and forth over the paper, making a rustling sound as she did so.

"We are ready to begin administering the new treatment," Tetsubin-sensei answered, a pleased smile pulling at his lips even the marks of strain encircled his eyes. "We believe we have accounted for every potential failing and side effect and it is ready for testing."

"When?"

"Immediately." The doctor was clearly confident in the treatment, his happiness almost palpable. After a moment, however; he became more serious. "There may be some difficulties from patient to patient, particularly in the shinobi, as the degree of injury and infection will vary wildly, but it should be fine." He looked to Gaara, who was still next to Temari's bed. "We feel we have learned enough to prevent any fatalities, though we cannot promise full recoveries for shinobi due to permanent damage to the chakra network."

"Excellent," Temari said with an enthusiastic grin on her face. Her brother regarded Sakura and the doctor with a look of praise, which switched to one of mild confusion as Temari whipped out her forearm, fist turned upwards.

She looked pointedly at the doctor. "Well? Get started."

Baki was astonished, and the medical ninja were clearly also surprised. Sari jumped at the abrupt gesture and sidled behind the combat medic.

"Temari-sama!" the doctor sputtered, shaking his head so the loose cloth of his turban fluttered. "The treatment is untried. Administering it to you now is dangerous."

The doctor had just said there could be problems in shinobi! Temari knew she had great responsibility in Suna and was a great asset. She was not the kind of person to be tested on! Her demand was impossible.

"Temari-san," Sakura began, a look on concern causing dark brows to lower of green eyes. "We're going to have to purge the tainted chakra as we go. It's going to be like clearing out bone marrow in a leukemia patient. And we can't be sure of the exact reactions we will get from the chakra until we try."

_Then absolutely not!_

"It shouldn't be hard to find a volunteer, Temari-sama," Tetsubin-sensei offered diplomatically.

Temari regarded the mild mannered doctor with a look of annoyance that she managed to keep out of her voice.

"That's not what I want. I want to go first. Try it on me before you try it on anyone else." The look of solid determination in her blue eyes and the set of jaw told Baki they were in for a fight. Since she was barely eleven Temari wore that look in battles of will, and against most people won handily.

But she was not a genin anymore, and she could no longer afford such personal indulgences.

"Temari-sama you know you cannot be risked this way, it is out of the question."

"What was that?" The dangerous sparking glint in Temari's eye was like the light off the edge of a razor blade. "Did you just try to tell me what I can and cannot do?"

"Temari-sama, please." Tetsubin-sensei raised his hands in a placating gesture. "We are only concerned about the well-being of all involved." His expression was borderline pleading, yet the compassionate doctor didn't sacrifice any dignity. "We will continue to need you after this has all passed. We can not afford to lose you now."

"Then you'd better do a good job, huh?" Temari indicated her extended arm, and showed none of the patience Baki knew her to be capable of. "Now, Tetsubin-sensei, or I'll have Sakura do it."

The Konoha kunoichi had been trying to make herself inconspicuous as possible once she saw the debate escalating, but now found herself thrown in the middle.

Fortunately, she thought fast. "My orders are to do whatever the Kazekage-sama instructs me to do." She was as neutral as it was possible to be in voice and deportment, Baki noted. She obviously spent a lot of time around politicians.

Temari's head whipped towards her brother, her face like stone. "I'm doing this, Gaara. I'm the highest ranking person infected and I have been in charge of organizing the investigation of this illness from the very beginning." She was adamant. "This is my fight. You aren't skipping over me now."

Gaara had stood unmoving and silent through the whole exchange, nothing moving except his eyes as they flicked from person to person, tracking the conversation. Now, they rested on Temari, his emotions hidden behind the mask he had learned to perfectly hold.

Gaara closed his eyes to consider the ramifications of her request, and Baki immediately saw the danger.

"With all do respect, Gaara-sama," he began, being careful to be as respectful as possible as he addressed his Kage, "we have to consider Temari-sama's rank before we risk her in something someone else could easily do."

Gaara opened his eyes and looked to the doctor, having arrived at a decision. "If Temari wishes to go first then she shall."

_This is dangerously unwise!_ "But Gaara-sama-"

"I said," Gaara turned to pin Baki with a cold, direct stare, one the teacher hadn't seen directed at him in years, "if Temari wishes for the treatment to be tested on her before any other, then she will have that."

The temperature in the lightly furnished hospital room seemed to drop a few degrees as the most dangerous shinobi in Suna let his anger seep through. It was clear enough that Gaara was finished with compromises.

Baki recognized defeat when he saw it. Painfully swallowing his pride and concerns, he managed to bite out a response. "Hai."

Temari reinforced her demands. "No one else is treated either until it's clear from me that it is safe." Temari looked her sensei dead in the eye, daring him to challenge her. "I don't want any misfortunes."

Tetsubin-sensei nodded meekly then turned to retrieve the instruments and medications necessary to begin.

Gaara shifted his attention back towards his old teacher. His spoke in the usual quiet tone he had adopted for most occasions,

"Baki, though I am very glad you are willing to speak your mind and point out all facts and observations you deem relevant, and I wish for you to continue to do so, do not question my final judgment in that manner again."

Baki was peripherally aware of how all the women in the room, including the Konoha kunoichi and the rookie genin all but hiding behind her, were watching him be chastised. Gaara was not doing it to embarrass him, but his pride stung anyway.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama."

"You and I need to go over the orders we are sending to Kankuro's battalion." If Gaara felt anything about having to correct a key officer, there was nothing to show it in his voice or actions. He began walking calmly across the stone floor, as nonchalant as if he were merely taking a stroll in the park. "Let's return to the Southern Conference Room for now."

Baki came after him in silence, feeling much heavier than he had when he entered. As he followed the shorter Kage, he was so cut down he almost didn't notice the way Gaara let his fingers brush Sakura's on the way out of the door.

*****O*****

Matsuri crouched on the dune, enjoying the shade cast by Kiba as he stood behind her, waiting for her to come to a decision.

Across the pale colored sand and dust that dominated the landscape until the brief strip of green in the distance, the unhindered sun beat down full force out of the cloudless blue sky. Matsuri squinted against the endless glare, comparing what she saw against the maps she called up in her mind.

The river was a good distance underground until the abrupt change in the underlying rock where one type of rock met another type along a fault and forced the river upwards. Prior to that, the river stayed in one continuous flow, only breaking up into the many streams as it found cracks in the new rock. Afterwards, the dunes forced the river deep into the ground again.

The stretch of land suitable for caves would be large, but not infinite. Out under the dusty scrubland before the steppes, the soil would crumble before it held up under the weight of the earth above it and would never make a good cavern. That just left the question of how wide the river became as it splintered below the ground. The amount that flowed on the top as quicksand and shallow ponds wasn't even close to the maximum flow. And who knew? Maybe the river was naturally digging out caves anyway.

She stood up, feeling the sand beneath her sandals shift and the slight feelings of a weak cramp fade as she stretch her legs back out. She turned to look behind her, using a hand to shade her eyes from the ever-present beaming of the desert sun as she did so.

Kiba, Neji, and Kankuro gave her their full attention as she told them what she had determined. She noticed Neji had activated his Byakugan to use its telescopic abilities to better view what she pointed out to them.

"Do you see the broken boulder behind me that has two small, rounder boulders off to the left? The one with the big crack going horizontally?"

"Yes," Neji confirmed over Kiba's curious "yeah", and Kankuro's inelegant grunt.

"The soil past that won't hold a cave. It'll just collapse. That is the extent of the possible caves. Under our feet is probably the end on this side." She suppressed a giggle as Kiba actually looked down towards his sandals at the dunes, as though he would be able to see the cave through the sun-baked sand.

Her happy grin faded as she told them the bad news about the caves, still using one small hand to shade her eyes. "The problem is I can't know how wide the cave system is because I don't know how much the river splits up between rock layers." She looked apologetically at Neji. "I don't think anyone does."

"That's fine, Matsuri-kun," Neji answered reassuringly as he continued to look into the distance with his Byakugan. "What you have told us is valuable enough."

She beamed at her taichou and at the lop-sided grin Kiba wore as he rolled his eyes at Neji's formalities.

She ignored Kankuro's black scowl.

_Bite me, puppet boy._

_

* * *

_AN: Lots of things to cover in this one.

First, this fic. is coming to end. Two more chapters, I think, or possibly just one as necessary. Thank you much to those of you reading this, all 20 of you according to the hit counter. Additional thank you's to those who have reviewed!

Second, those of you who read my other notes know I have a problem with my wrist. Well, it's worse than ever, noticeably deformed, and increasingly painful. I need surgery soon, and considering how much the minimally invasive procedure that failed to correct the problem the first time was, this could take a while. There will probably be a gap between updates.

Third, as I move on to my next lengthy project, I really want feedback so I can do a better job next time. Are my chapters too long? Would 5,000 words be better? Should the next one be more character driven?

Review if you like it!


	9. Suffocation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 9

Whirling clouds, gauzy, deceptively wispy, floating through the heavy air in delicate curls and billows, seemed a mere touch away from skimming the slanted rooftops of the high-reaching wood buildings of Konoha. The lowered dome of the churning sky sunk heavily, gyros of slate grey vapor, concentrating and darkening as they curled in on themselves, thickening, expanding, pressing down until waves of insubstantial tumultuous black threatened to engulf the townspeople sheltering in their homes below.

The mood in the office of the Hokage was violently more threatening and infinitely more dangerous. Tsunade was only marginally aware of the unseasonable storm building, feeding, enlarging itself beyond the chakra reinforced windows of the Tower behind the back of her chair. She sat with her arms and legs crossed behind the heavy bulwark of her desk, not bothering to hide her mood as she stared balefully at the ostensibly relaxed robed figure sitting across from her.

Lines of taut hatred floated between the two like the gossamer threads of spider silk.

The heavy wooden doors opened to reveal a delicately wary Shizune, carefully evaluating the situation before cautiously entering and treading with professional poise to deposit the tray with the kettle and cups of gently steaming macha on the desk before the figure in the chair.

The battered hand not resting in his robe lightly reached out and cupped the fragile ceramic before raising it to his lips.

"Most satisfactory, Shizune-san," he spoke softly, his tone utterly composed and neutral. "This will suffice." He returned the fragrant drink to his lips with the same elegant slowness that had Tsunade feeling the rapid fraying of her last nerve.

"Out, Shizune," she growled, causing her dark haired apprentice to start and spin on her wide eyed, before disciplining herself and hastily adjusting the grip on the tray in her hand.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune bowed and turned towards the door with full composure, earning her a warm feeling of gratitude from Tsunade, grateful that her student and friend made a point to show her all the respect and ceremony owed to the Hokage, the younger woman's small way of supporting the Hokage in her upcoming duel.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Tsunade pounced on the opportunity for the opening volley.

"I don't have all day, Danzou. The Hokage's time is valuable, as you well know."

The man in the robes and gauze raised his bandage wrapped head as if he were surprised to learn he had failed to observe due courtesy.

"Forgive me," he said mildly. "How rude of me."

There was a tiny clink as the porcelain cup was carefully returned to the smooth desktop.

"Tsunade-hime, I have come to intrude upon your valuable time to discuss with you a matter which may effect village security that has come to my attention."

His false humility was enough to make her grit her teeth.

He was completely at ease. "Have you received any information regarding a possible… concern with our allies in the desert?"

"I am in constant communication with Kazekage," she replied noncommittally. "You'll have to be more specific."

"Ah, of course," he said breezily. "It has come to my attention that there may be an issue with the health of the city." He tilted his head slightly, acting the part of the guileless, concerned citizen with just enough detectable irony to make her want to snap his neck. "Naturally, this caused me great concern. Imagine my surprise when I learned that, during my personal investigation, we had a four man squad in the city, and one that included your younger apprentice."

_Two can play this game, you parasite. You'll have to play harder than this._

"I do have a team assigned to Suna at this time." No reason at all not to admit what was a matter of public record. "However, I have not heard anything from them regarding a possible threat to Konoha."

Unless his spy network was even more invasive and had even greater infiltration than what she estimated, he couldn't know of the hastily sent report from Sakura that the Cipher Squad had decoded and had been read by her just before this little conference began. As long as she maintained the upper hand in information, she could send him out of her office outplayed and humiliated.

The dark haired man hesitated for a fraction of a second, enough for her to catch it and smirk internally even as she kept her lipstick lined mouth loose and neutral.

"This is unexpected. I would have thought an illness in an allied Village would be of greater concern."

_Surprised you_. It was unusual for him to reveal what he knew so soon in a power struggle inaccurately called a mere debate.

"I have monitored the situation with all appropriate diligence," Tsunade replied evenly, keeping her face expressionless but for the usual contempt, and carefully preventing the smugness she was being to feel from invading her voice. "I am positive I have accurately accessed any threat to our Village."

He wasn't rattled yet. The remaining visible three quarters of his scarred and wrinkled face that wasn't hidden by clean white bandages did not change. "Curious. According to my sources, Suna has suffered many ill and deceased as a result of an unknown infection. Are my sources proving unreliable?"

"Certainly sounds sensational." She allowed her eyebrows to rise momentarily to emphasize the statement. "What are you suggesting in regards to how I've handled the situation if what you have heard is true?"

_Come on. Tell me why you're really here… You and your jealous obsession._

"Naturally, I would consider it hopelessly incompetent and criminally irresponsible of you to treat a major threat with such casualness. If it were so."

An ugly scowl twisted her lips downward and her eyes narrowed reflexively. _Getting serious now? You can't toy with __**me**__._ "I have a team there that includes my own apprentice, as you already noted. I am fully aware of what is going on in Suna."

"Then the situation is indeed serious, if you committed one of your beloved apprentices." Tsunade was just readying to answer the implied slight against her closeness to her students when he coolly continued. "I would hate to see something happen to someone so close to you again."

Fury. It sparked in her eyes, boiling her blood in her veins and setting her on fire from bone through to skin, searing through her reason like volcanic acid, almost over ridding her self-control. _Don't you dare threaten Sakura you-!_

_Calm down, Tsunade. Shut him up!_

"Sakura is a chuunin medic nin," she forced out through her constricted throat, "the team needed a medic, as per regulations. If there were an extraordinary circumstance wouldn't I have sent a more experienced shinobi?"

"Not if you wanted to avoid drawing attention to Suna." Too fast a reply to not have been prepared ahead of time.

"True," she snapped, her painted fingernails threatening to dig into the green sleeves of her jacket, but she was winning the wrestling match with her temper. "But then either Sakura isn't good enough and I have endangered everyone, or she is and it was quite convenient." She nearly succeeded in holding in her sneer. "Hard to tell which situation is which, is it not?"

"Indeed," he murmured, clearly revaluating his points of attack. "Of course, in such a situation you would reveal all necessary information to the Elders." Tsunade suppressed her growl as he mentioned her legal obligations as Kage. If she were found in violation she would be impeached. "We should never be in the dark when it comes to the safety of the Village."

"I have no doubt you are fully informed Danzou." Any more sarcasm piled on that sentence it would have buckled under the strain. "Since you are aware of everything you need to know, and I have assured you there is no concern in regards to our Village, there is nothing more for us to discuss."

She uncrossed her legs to plant her geta firmly on the floor and used her desk to push herself to her feet when he spoke again.

"I am certain you wish for me to leave," he nearly purred, "but there is one more thing."

She openly glared at him through the dark eyelashes obscuring her golden eyes. "Then speak."

"I heard a most fascinating rumor." He paused, clearly wanting her to sit again.

_Ha_. "And?"

"It seems the former Gold Country has shinobi still active in its name." he continued, as mellow as if he were mentioning his preferences in robe fabrics. "That would certainly be news worth passing along."

A sliver of satisfaction flashed across her mind. He had decided he could use her silence on the issue against her, calling her transparency with critical information into question.

"Yes, it certainly would." She noticed his tiny start at the easy reply. "There was one more piece of interesting information. It concerns a rare desert plant called Traveler's Chew. I understand your 'special project' is Konoha's single largest importer."

He stilled almost imperceptibly and a near invisible frown spread down the mysterious shinobi's damaged face. "It has rare properties similar to other plants used to make inks for seals that my _division_," he emphasized, "finds beneficial to our jutsu." His answer was measured, to redirect attention to his carefully garnered reputation that kept together with his delusion of being Konoha's greatest defender. Never mind that those inks had been nearly forbidden, the Sandaime nearly outvoted at Council, because of the amount of toxicity they still retained despite Danzou's insistence they were what passed for 'safe' among his kind of shinobi.

"It seems the flow of this particular good may be… impeded following a full investigation into how the plant and a discovered link to the Gold Country are connected." Tsunade watched his reaction carefully, analyzing every detail for later recall as learned what she knew of his relationship to the dangerous plant. "Naturally, I wanted a full and detailed report available before I presented the findings at the next meeting. You will understand if this causes you any inconvenience." She finished with an utterly insincere sympathetic smile.

Danzou held himself so rigidly the bitter veteran could have been carved from stone. "Of course."

*****O*****

Sakura sat in one of the many simple chairs that were kept around the hospital for family and friends of patients to use during their time there. It was designed to be more comfortable than the administrative chairs, created for those who knew their time in the hospital was going to be extended.

Temari was asleep in her hospital bed, and Sakura was infinitely relieved that it was peaceful now and not drug induced. The rooms was quiet, the sounds of the perpetual activity out in the hallway beyond the closed door muted, giving her the chance to listen closely to the older kunoichi's breathing.

Sakura focused her eyes on Temari's face and chest, watched the rhythmic rise and fall that was steady and slow beneath the sheets, the absence of strain or discomfort on relaxed face. Her breathing pathway was clear, and there was no sound rattling, gurgling, or any other noise to indicate a problem in her respiratory system.

Around her, the instruments that had been hooked up to monitor the ambassador's other systems all beeped steadily, a rhythmic ensemble of health, assuring Sakura that all was well. On the utilitarian nightstand next to her was a pile of printouts with the latest blood test results, showing a marked improvement in the function of her major organs. Sakura had frowned as she thought about the read out; Temari would recover if this trend continued, but there was definitely permanent damage to both her liver and kidneys. Her liver should be fine with regular monitoring to correct any problems as they arose, she may even need only blood work to monitor her cholesterol levels, but Sakura was certain she would eventually lose at least one kidney and possibly require a transplant later in life.

She hoped the same for the still critical Shino. She had visited her old classmates in his darkened hospital room earlier, his induced coma against the pain and shock still firmly in established, noting the minimal bandages the nurses had applied to the bloody holes in his pale skin due to the resource shortage. He had nearly crashed twice, his heartbeat and blood pressure dropping dangerously low before the instruments beeped in alarm and called in nurses to administer heavier doses of support drugs. It was a testament to Temari's dedication to improving the hospital that despite the numbers of crashing patients there was any adrenaline or atropine left at all.

It had warmed her heart a little when she noticed, on the table next to the bed were Shino was laid out unconscious, there was a small vase with a daffodil in it. Beside it was a simple card, inked with tiny script.

_I'm sorry. Get well soon._

_Matsuri_

The kunoichi heard the click of the doorknob turning before it opened, letting in a murmuring of scuffling and hustled noise as Tetsubin-sensei let himself in.

"Good morning, Tetsubin-sensei." She kept her voice down.

The man smiled in greeting, the smile lines on his face wrinkling as she did so. "Good morning," he replied, striding over and reaching for the collection of papers with the readout information.

"Weren't you here when I retired for the night, Tetsubin-sensei?" Sakura asked in low tones. After the medial team had administered the new treatment, she had helped the Suna hospital staff observe Temari for the rest of the day following writing her letter to Tsunade-shishou before she had tried but failed to sleep. Her anxiety and anticipation were too great to even begin to sleep.

Tetsubin-sensei had worked for hours before then and all through the night.

"Yes, I was," he smiled sheepishly, but made no apology.

"Temari-san is stable, Tetsubin-sensei," She admonished lightly. "Now is as good a time as any for you to sleep."

"You are starting to sound like my daughter and Temari-sama," the man laughed lightly as he reviewed the numbers printed across the papers in his hands. "There are three of you now. Seems I'm outnumbered."

Sakura smiled back quietly from her chair, affected by his good-natured humor. "Too bad for you. You'll just have to give in then."

He gave her a throaty chuckle as his dark eyes rapidly took in the numbers on the print out. The smile on his face faded somewhat as he finished and drew the same conclusions Sakura had. He looked from papers to where Temari was lying on the bed.

He looked back to Sakura, resigned. "It could be worse than this."

She felt appreciation for the doctor who couldn't settle quietly for a partial victory. She nodded in reply.

She felt the side of her mouth quirk up. Now was the chance to get the ragged looking doctor to sleep. She had observed in people his age a tendency to be more concerned with what she had to say or wanted if they had a daughter her age. Temari had left her instructions to get the doctor to go home and sleep if the blonde couldn't manage it before she slept herself.

"Time to listen to the three of us then and get to sleep, huh?" she said. They had to give the mix of drugs and small seals placed on the insides of Temari's wrists to encourage her body to filter and nullify the tainted chakra to work. "We just continue to wait now."

His smile returned. "I can see Temari-sama gave you instructions," he sighed as he accurately read the situation. "And she'll check up on me when she wakes up again."

The long-suffering doctor returned to the papers to the stand before turning and regarding Temari again, is hand on the lower part of his face. Sakura watched him, his worry not completely kept from his face as he contemplated the new revelation.

"You and Temari-san are close, huh?" She asked gently.

The doctor nodded. "I've known Temari-sama her whole life," he admitted as he lowered his hand. "She grew up beside my daughter, Kyusu."

"What is Kyusu like, is she a shinobi?" Sakura asked, curious at the mention of the name. "Temari mentioned her once or twice as I came in and out," Sakura told him. Temari had told her Kyusu was her close friend, and it was common for Temari to visit the doctor's house to spend time with her.

"No, she is not." Tetsubin-sensei's tone changed slightly, and Sakura wondered if she accidentally broached a sore topic. The tall man shifted his weight from one foot to the other before continuing. "She was born with cerebral palsy, which of course precludes her from entrance into the Academy."

"…I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," his energy returned somewhat as he visibly gave himself a mental shake. "It's just, um…" He turned to look at the kunoichi seated in the chair. "I don't know how much you know about Suna's history, but the Ichibi being sealed into Gaara-sama wasn't the only horrible thing that was directed at the children of this village by the previous Kazekage."

An ominous knot clenched in her stomach as Sakura listened with widening eyes.

"The Yondaime Kazekage claimed that in order to survive, we had to funnel our resources into growing the best shinobi." Tetsubin-sensei's voice became toneless. "He said if we were to stand against Hidden Villages like the Bloody Mist, we also had to allow only the best shinobi into our forces. But he claimed there policy was flawed. It was to wasteful to raise and train children who were doomed to fail." Sakura felt her throat go dry as Tetsubin-sensei flatly. "He proposed we 'eliminate unfit issue'."

Her jaw shook as it dropped, her hands trembled in her lap. _He couldn't have… Gaara's father didn't…!_

"The previous Kage was a tyrant, but the people could only be pushed so far. We pooled our courage and stood up to him. Suna nearly collapsed from the upheaval. The daimyo had to step in."

Tetsubin-sensei paused a moment, looking to the floor, his lips pressed tightly together, before looking up and continuing. "The very idea of killing helpless infants because they don't match some heartless government standard. Everything about it was wrong. I only thought of Kyusu, how she would be considered unworthy of living because she couldn't kill on command…"

He inhaled deeply. "Gaara-sama and Temari-sama's Uncle Yashamaru served under my command. He never recovered from Karura-sama's death, and he just lost his will to go on under pressure from the Yondaime. After I heard of how he died, I took Kyusu with me to the funeral service. Gaara-sama was not too well guarded, not now that the Yondaime Kazekage openly recruited assassasins, but he was emotionally unreachable, and Kankuro already had a reputation as incorrigible bully, but I had already made the acquaintance of Temari's nurse Uzume-san some time before. There was a chance I could still help Temari-sama. To my great relief, they became fast friends.

"But, even a small friendship between two little girls was a unacceptable when one was disabled. They were forbidden to see each other for years. I've rarely been so happy the day I was when Temari-sama came to visit after her father was assassinated."

The doctor regarded Sakura with a sad smile. "I've seen terrible things as a shinobi, but nothing gets to me like seeing children destroyed by their own parents." His eyes dropped to the floor.

She was locked in place, a heaviness pulling at every inch of her. Even her lungs were so heavy she had trouble breathing. "Tetsubin-sensei, I…"

_What words are there for this?_ "I'm so sorry, all that happened…"

An old short story she had once read flashed through her mind.

_For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn._

"I am as well," he sighed. "But it cannot be undone. Instead, we need to focus on helping the infected to recover."

"Hai, Tetsubin-sensei."

The man gave her one last sad smile before slipping his worn hands into his doctor's coat, and walking back towards the door that opened into the rush of busy humanity hurrying by in the hallway. He turned back to face her.

"You should try to sleep well."

Then he was gone; back out into the ceaseless motion.

_For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn._

*****O*****

_Man, the desert sucks._

Kiba mulled over the attributes of their current environment as he idly scratched Akamaru behind the ears while they both lounged on the dusty floor of the twilight zone of dark cavern where their team had sought shelter. Above them on the cave ceiling, a ripple pattern appeared on the old sandstone, a sign of the rivers that used to be in region. All around them on the ground, a load of dry sand threatening to sneak into his clothes and chaff, all to the roar of the noise outside.

He was really beginning to hate the desert. If it wasn't trying to kill you one way, it was trying to kill you another. If it wasn't dehydration, it was scorpions hiding out in your sleeping bag. If it wasn't endless, roasting hot dunes disorienting you, it was sand storms blowing in out of nowhere to sandblast the flesh of your bones.

Like the one they were hiding from now. Their team was finally on to something and now they were playing campout. At least the cave was big enough that they still had some personal space as they squeezed in the space.

It had been a pretty intimidating sight. Hearing Matsuri call out a heads up, looking up from the sun-baked earth, bleached bright from relentless exposure, where he was trying to catch scents that would indicate where the Gold nin had made their entrance to the underground base, and seeing the huge black cloud reaching skyward that was racing towards them from the horizon.

"Aww, shi-"

"We need to retreat." Neji held up his hand to call his team to him. He looked down to the shorter Matsuri as she landed next him. "Where's the nearest shelter?"

Staying out in the open would just result in their sand blasted corpses leaving bones in the dunes to be finely sandpapered and creep out the members of the next genin team that came by. Death was not the only long-term treat, oh no, there was blindness, repertory problems, all sorts of fun stuff.

The teams had been ordered to pull back towards Suna until the found sufficient shelter in the beginnings of the canyon country that surrounded the Village. Matsuri had guided them to the northern most reach of the caves and Neji had found them a hole in the rocks with the mouth opposite the skin flaying storm. The winds roared and shrieked as they rushed into the narrow pathways in the cracked rock, blocking out most noise and channeling it into a continuous thunder of sound.

_Hate the desert._

They had had figured out based on Matsuri's observations that the entrance they had found was not nearly the size large enough for human passage and would take time to excavate. It was only when they went over the collected information did their team figure out why there were so many lizards around.

"Why would only lizards be using this hole in ground?" Matsuri wondered as she visibly overcame the awkwardness she felt after she climbed off Neji's shoulders. "That's odd behavior, right?"

"Are they poisonous lizards?" Kiba asked. "They might be running the other creatures out."

"We don't have poisonous lizards in our desert," Kankuro said flatly, scowling at the location of the genjutsu. "Nature isn't what's screening the entrants.

_Oh, you can't be serious_. "Nin-lizards? They've been using summons?"

"Or otherwise have an influence over this particular native fauna," Neji clarified.

"The Gold nin are using them either way." Kankuro looked over to Kiba. "Did you and the dog smell lizards anywhere else?"

Kiba bristled, and cheerfully noted Matsuri make a rude gesture at Kankuro's back. "Yeah, the smell was all over Suna's edges, way more than any other creature."

Kankuro swore and Neji frowned.

"Spies right on top of us," Kankuro hissed.

_Hate the desert._

As soon as the storm lifted, the teams were headed back to the oasis. There was no doubt the Gold nin and any allies hiding with them knew they were being hunted and would evacuate if they could, and were fortifying at the least.

_The calm before the storm_. Kiba looked towards the black sand churning at the cave entrance. _Except it's not calm. This place blows._

_**Literally**_.

*****O*****

_The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round…_

What were the rest of the words? She couldn't remember. She heard snatches of that song being sung by children the last time she was in the capital. What was the rest of it? Something about 'all through the town'. Why the whole town? Was the driver of the bus a poor navigator? That would be very inefficient…

"Shiho, hand me that report, would you?" Anko was sitting cross-legged on the table, chewing absently on a dango stick as she intently reviewed the latest dispatches from Suna. The packet included a more complete analysis of the remains of Shino's allies. They had hoped for traces of ink from the seal in the water, but there had been nothing on insects.

The sounds of the door to the commandeered ready room opening reached her ears as Shikamaru slouched into the room, his lip twitching slightly as he repressed a deeper frown.

Anko grabbed the pile of papers she had already read without looking up, still gnawing on her stick, and handed them to Shikamaru. "Have at it."

The chuunin grunted in response and plopped down into a chair to begin reading the reports. Shiho held her breath. A chair next to her.

_Oh my. _He was sitting next to her! Oh wow! What should she do? Should she say something? Was he trying to communicate through body language? He sat on her right! But that's wrong side! _Oh, you tease… You… You…_

Wow, he smelled good. Was that patrouli? She bet it was. Never thought she'd like patrouli. Curry was better. Oh! She liked curry. Curry with chickpeas. And pickles. Would the diners be open when she left? But Suzaku's was being repainted! Taupe. Taupe's a boring color. She liked orange. And blue.

Blue oranges?

She nearly jumped out of her chair when Shikamaru abruptly sat up straight and held the papers directly in front of his face. His eyes whipped back forth almost to fast to track and he rapidly moved from one paper to the next, slamming the finished pages onto the table.

Shiho slowly leaned back in trepidation even as she blushed madly in marvel.

_So intense, so manly… And a speed reader, too…_

As the last paper slammed to the hard surface Anko jumped off the table to face him, locking lavender eyes to black.

"What've you got?" she asked sharply.

"The seal only moves chakra from one source."

Shiho blinked as Anko's expression shifted to one of mild horror. "Ah, what does that-?"

"All that chakra is coming from one person," Anko declared as she and Shikamaru swept out of the room, the tail of coat flapping behind her. She continued to shout back to the stunned Shiho as they stormed down the hall. "If the caster's chakra network is strong enough to cast other jutsu our team will be dead where they fall."

*****O*****

Movement. Moving, all moving. Susurrations.

Sand. Gaara? Must be Gaara. Where was he?

Smooth. Soft. Sand through her hands was suede. Suede on her senses. Suede and silk. Her hands, her face, over shoulders, down her back. Waterfalls of suede, waterfalls of silk, waterfalls of sand.

Sand coursing around her. She could hear it. Feel it. Where was Gaara?

_Gaara…_

She searched for him. The sand, the smell of dust. The rushing around her. Where…

Pain cracked through the back of her head. She squeezed her eyes shut in reflex. It was painful. Sore. Salty taste in her mouth. She choked back another small sob. Her heart hurt more than anything.

He was leaving. He was really leaving her.

_Please don't go_. If I had spoken up at the chuunin exams you would have gotten help instead of worse! _Please don't go away…_

Heavy. It was all so heavy. The weight on her shoulders, was it still sand? What was burning? Is that what she smelled? It was over the clean smell of the dust. Burning in the motion of the sands around her…

Impact. Outside of her. What was being crushed? Something was being completely compacted. How? Gaara?

_Gaara! _

"Don't kill him!"

She knew he was there. Sasuke was in there, in the turbulence. Sand was so much rougher away from her, not smooth and gentle like it was across her skin. She could sense him even if she couldn't see him.

Where was Gaara? He had to be near.

"Gaara, don't kill him! Please!"

Gaara. He was standing there; his head hung low, his voice slow, raw, despairing.

"It's fine. My hands are already soaked in blood. It doesn't matter if there's one more."

_Gaara, you still matter. Don't kill him. You don't have to be that person._

_And I have to tell him I'm sorry._

_It's my fault._

She reached out, and her hands brushed between layers of fabric.

Sakura inhaled, aware she was lying on her side, the coolness being drawn into her lungs waking her. She blinked sluggishly over dry eyes, coming into awareness. The room she'd been assigned in Suna was dark and silent, allowing her to hear the sounds of the sandstorm that had blown in, the sheets on her bed tussled. She sighed deeply as sleep continued to hold her close, her mind on her dream.

Dreams were a result of the brain's nightly processing of the day's input, or during a nap in her case, when all that had been encountered during the day was analyzed, connections made, and relevant information stored away for later reference. It was the reprocessing of all that had occupied one's thoughts during the day. She sighed again as she resettled her self under the blankets.

_Yeah, I get it. I don't need another reminder._

*****O*****

Powdery sand billowed up in puffs at every footfall. Sandstorms kicked up heavy grit only a few inches up off the ground, but dust could blow miles high into the atmosphere. The dust that had come with the storm lay freshly on the dunes, and lightly dusted the few sparse sprigs of vegetation.

The storm had not cooled the desert air in the slightest, and Neji found himself again squinting against the white-hot glare of the sun reflecting of the endless sands. Now that travel was again possible, their 4-man cell had left the cave and was nearly to the edge of the oasis. He anticipated rendezvousing with the other squads momentarily.

"Wait!"

Neji came to stop in the loose sands as Kiba called out. The dog nin and Akamaru had been traveling as the last in their line to minimize the impediment to there vision as the dust kicked up by Akamaru would be even greater than the amount disturbed previously. He turned to see the Inuzuka kneeling down to retrieve something from the sands, something that glinted in the sunlight. He joined the team as they converged on Kiba to examine the find. Kiba stood as Akamaru busily snuffled the find, Kankuro and Matsuri leaning in with Neji to view the object more closely.

"Shuriken," Matsuri observed as she looked at the four-pointed steel star in lying on the black leather of Kiba's glove.

"Suna shuriken," Kankuro corrected. He pointed to the distinct hammer pattern on the metal from when it had been shaped.

_Battle._

Matsuri straightened up sharply, her hair flapping about her face. She spun wild-eyed as she looked about her. Neji examined the area more cautiously, noting the other members of his team doing so as well.

"Byakugan."

He winced as the increased sensitivity burned the rods and cones of his eyes. He visually swept the dunes around him, noting shapes laying just beneath the sands, buried equipment and unusual clumps in the otherwise uniformly smooth. Shuriken and kunai, and clots of sand stuck together with spilled blood. Not a small amount of blood either.

He could hear Kiba and Akamaru sniffing intently carefully analyzing the air.

"Consensus?" Kankuro grunted.

"Signal them," Neji answered.

The puppeteer pulled out the small scroll used for communication in lieu of radio transmissions. A small black-inked character linked to a larger seal flashed red as Kankuro tapped it, sending a signal to the other groups to respond.

Matsuri treaded over to Kankuro and leaned forward to watch closely for any sign of a response.

The glyph was inactive.

Matsuri's eyebrows pulled together a she looked anxiously to Neji.

"Uh-oh."

*****O*****

Gaara frowned.

When Tetsubin-sensei returned, he was going to have to ask him to remind the medical staff and other personnel that despite the added stress, there was still a need for discretion. The amount of chatter regarding Temari's improving condition was loud enough to penetrate the closed door to her hospital room.

He leaned against the smooth white wall, his arms crossed over his chest, watching the still pallid Temari and the collection of nurses and physical therapist evaluating her. He had been in his office when he was alerted that his sister had awakened and rushed as much as was possible without drawing attention to himself. She had refused to allow anyone to go for the Chief Medical Officer when she had been informed he had just left and, if the pointed look he was greeted with as he burst through the door, had to be convinced to compromise and have word sent to him.

Odd. She was usually highly cooperative, even when displeased, as was in her diplomatic nature. Perhaps there was more influencing her foul mood. He lifted an eyebrow.

"Temari," he said, "are you menstruating?"

Interesting. There was a common pause. The people around the suddenly rigid kunoichi held their collective breath.

"_Gaara…_"

That was a tone threatening painful retribution. He expertly hid his smirk. Kankuro would be proud of him. He hadn't really gotten back at her after she spoke to Sakura. He feigned obliviousness.

"Did I say something inappropriate?"

"Gaara, just-" Temari cut herself off, closing her eyes and sucking in a deep breath as the staff around looked around for any and all emergency escape routes. "Just be quiet, and let them do their jobs." She pointed sharply at a blank patch of wall. "Go stand over there."

"Why-"

She ground out her response through gritted teeth under blazing blue eyes, her arm fully extended from shoulder to fingertip. "Go. Stand. Over there. Nothing else."

If the medical team thought it was odd to see the Kazekage admonished by his sister, that would explain the extreme awkwardness that still permeated the room.

Her extended bed rest had caused her to become stiff, but the physical therapist and nurses appeared pleased as they tested Temari's strength, balance, coordination, and reflexes. A chakra specialist carefully watched a piece of reinforced paper used to evaluate chakra output change colors in reaction to Temari forcing with some effort a portion of her chakra from her fingertips onto its normally colorless white surface, and smiled approvingly.

"Low but steady," he said aloud. "Very good news."

"How long until I can go get some exercise?" Temari asked as she retracted her hand and used it to adjust her robe. "Can I at least walk the halls?"

The medical staff exchanged looks. One of them reached to scratch his head, his fingers nails scrapping against the white fabric that made up the hood of the medical attire. "We would have to clear that with Tetsubin-sensei, Temari-sama, since he's the attending physician."

"You don't need the man for every little thing," Temari said shortly, sighing as she did so. She turned her head towards the doctor who had spoken as the rest of the team gathered up their equipment and prepared to leave. "Can I walk or not?"

"Don't leave the area we have sectioned off," the man relented, one eye on the Kazekage leaning silently against the wall, clearly thinking about how he didn't want to be the one to give clearance for Temari to overexert herself.

"Don't worry," Temari assured him, rolling her blonde head from side to side to loosen the kinks in the muscles on her shoulders. "I'm just going for a walk. Nothing else."

As the team shuffled out of the room, Gaara moved away from the wall and intercepted Temari as she walked across the floor towards the armoire that held a set of her clothes, looking up to regard the face of his taller sister with intense analysis.

Light green eyes looked unflinchingly into blue, then scanned the lingering unnatural pallor that laid on her skin over unhealthily pinched features, and the near matted state of her hair, which was thinner than what it had been.

What would be an informal way to put it?

"You look like crap."

"Oh, wow. Thanks little bro." Temari tolled her eyes. "Way to boost my immune system with emotional support."

"A compliment wouldn't change the fact I can see the effects of the illness." Gaara said, the look in his eyes soft.

Temari blinked. "You aren't wishing you were sick instead, are you?"

"No." He shifted his eyes to regard her silhouette, noting the angularness that invaded her formerly healthy shape.

"So, what is it?" Temari asked gently.

Gaara paused, dark rimmed eyes dulling as he focused inward in thought. "I'm worried for you." He blinked as he considered the alien feelings further. "It's frightening, not being able to help you if want to.

I'm afraid."

Temari put a slender hand on his shoulder, attempting to reassure him. He was vaguely pleased that he didn't flinch away from physical contact as he still sometimes did when in a state of heightened anxiety.

"You're doing everything can." She smiled gently. "Even if I look like crap."

Gaara reflected on that. "Kankuro would say you always look like crap."

The hand on his shoulder tightened. Her smile turned feral as she spoke. "Gaara, do you remember those 'moments' we discussed?"

_Moments of emotional bonding?_ "Yes."

"This was one of those."

"Oh."

*****O*****

It had been a long time since he had felt this way. Not since he was a genin put in the vanguard of an army invading the strongest military force in the world.

Kankuro still remembered it all with disturbingly vivid clarity.

The feel of the rough-hewn bench in the briefing room. Temari's disbelieving horror at being informed that they were turning on their ally and violating the treaty. Baki-sensei's palpable fear, their fearless sensei unmistakably exhibiting how certain he was this plan was mad suicide despite his attempts to suppress it. Gaara had been his usual reticent self.

Actually entering Konoha, those tall, imposing gates manned by foreign shinobi who didn't hide their suspicion, the keen analysis of their eyes behind the alien hitai-ite, the subtle smirks that said he was deemed a inferior opponent.

The knowledge that at least some of them were right.

He had seen Temari's successful dabbling with jounin level jutsu. He would never admit it to her face, but he knew he couldn't keep up with her uncanny talent with the wind. If that was true with his own sister, what about the foreign jounin? There was no way he could face the experienced jounin in Konoha whose faces he had memorized in the Bingo Book before they set out from Suna.

Training or not, the supreme pressure of keeping up the pretense of peaceful test takers and the knowledge they would soon be in the middle of a viscious battle got to all of them. Gaara wordlessly disappeared to scout the village on his own. He of course was happy picking on the small fry, a brat, an idiot of a Konoha genin in a stupid orange jumpsuit, and a kunoichi with an equally stupid hair color and a big mouth and that had helped a little. He was surprised when Temari actually let him get away with causing trouble and drawing attention during an espionage mission. Normally she didn't take crap from anyone, let alone him. Her way of showing her nerves, he figured out later.

Then the emo douchebag showed up.

Uchiha Sasuke. _Kami_, he was asking for it. Little punk.

But it was Gaara's reaction that was the worst thing that had happened. It was only years after the fight in the forest that Kankuro realized why Gaara had been so fixated.

Gaara hadn't wanted to be on that mission anymore than he and Temari did. He needed to focus on something; provide himself with a threat to go through with it all. The Uchiha gave him a reason to give in to the bloodlust that the Shukaku was always thirsting for.

It was then he thought they were really going to die.

When Gaara turned into the Shukaku, or rather, when it consumed him, Kankuro was never more terrified, but this situation came awfully close.

Without further evidence he was forced to conclude his squad was the only one left in the desert. Under normal circumstances he would fallback and call for reinforcements, but at this time that would be pointless. There were no more reinforcements. Period. If the team retreated they would have to come back no more better suited than when they had left. Furthermore, the enemy could be even more securely entrenched, taking advantage of observations made, or even information forced from any of the other shinobi they may have captured.

As his team stood waiting on the blurred transition from dunes to scrubland, his eyes narrowed to slits in his face against the glare off the sands and his own consternation. At best they could retreat to an observation point. The rocks and plants in his vision blurred through his stubby lashes, a swirl of dull browns, and one smear of sickly green.

His forehead scrunched together. _Hold on now_. His eyes flew open.

He'd enjoy the look on Matsuri and Hyuuga's faces later as string of expletives that would have made a sailor blush scorched the sands.

Kiba grinned. "Nice."

"Look there." Kankuro pointed to a pitiful pile of wilted leaves in the midst of the glimmering quicksand pools, nearly crammed beneath a boulder. He hadn't spent all that time listening to Temari going on about her little botany hobby when they and Gaara took trips around the countryside as a break for nothing after all. "That plant doesn't belong this far south this time of year."

"Gotcha."

Matsuri let out a squeak of surprise, thin arms and legs flailing, as Kiba looped an arm around her waste and hoisted her to his hip. "Okay cancel-master," he chattered with a bright, toothy grin, "do your thing."

Matsuri, flushing a tremendous red, and suspended a foot off the ground, flung an arm over his shoulder, flushed even darker as she seemed to note just how broad they were. She seemed to mumble incoherently before bringing her hands together to form the Tiger Seal.

Hilarious.

"K-kai!"

Her mortified expression immediately focused in as the kunoichi in her took over. "There's an entrance right there, big enough for a person to squeeze into. I don't see any guards."

Neji's expression was flat. So was his voice. He directed a bland look at the dog nin. "Kiba, this kind of genjutsu wouldn't require you to lift her off of the ground for it to be canceled."

"I know." Kiba smiled shamelessly as Matsuri blushed again before bristling and swatting at his head with her small hands.

"Put me down! Put! Me! Down!"

Kankuro looked askance at the disproving Hyuuga. The Konoha jounin snorted, then looked towards the point of the genjutsu. "Kai."

And a moment later, Kankuro saw the root-like chakra network around his colorless eyes become visible. "I see a line of chakra sensors. We can avoid tripping them."

"We're going in." Kankuro looked to Kiba and Matsuri to make sure they had heard, the chuunin grinning slyly as the genin recovered from her flustered state, smoothing down her skirt with both hands. "I'll dispatch a message to Suna with our coordinates and have them send anyone the can. Gaara will come himself if he has, too."

He reached around to loosen the summoning scroll in the harness on his back even as he grabbed the scroll for communications. They needed to go in ready.

*****O*****

The puppet clinked and clacked as gears, wires, coils, bolts, and metal supports in the aged wooden frame responded to Kankuro's manipulation with the invisible chakra strings extending from his gloved fingers. Karasu was the size of a person, built to roughly resemble one in shape, dead doll eyes rolling beneath a bad wig and all, and was operated most closely to a traditional marionette out of all the constructs in the puppeteer's arsenal. A series of additional rattles made from the bones of small snakes and wooden clackers had been incorporated into the design to add additional random noise to prevent attentive shinobi from predicting the puppets movements based on the sounds preceding them. The puppets multi-jointed jaw worked opened and closed in a noisy chatter as Kankuro checked the smoothness of one of the tighter coils.

Matsuri focused on keeping her breathing measured as she watched the black clothed jounin calmly evaluate his weapon. Her own jouhyou was fastened securely on her hip, the loops of rope untangled and swaying in the desert breeze, ready for use. It felt very odd to be going into such an important battle without Gaara-sensei.

_I screwed up last time. I have to do it right this time. I need to make a good showing._

Satisfied with his inspection, Kankuro redirected his attention to Matsuri and the two Konoha nin, who had already finished checking their much simpler gear. "I'll lead with Karasu in front to disarm or, if we have to, trigger any traps. The Hyuuga comes after with his kekkei genkai activated. The Inuzuka and the dog will follow. Matsuri."

She straightened his posture to attention as focused his squinty on her.

"I want you in the back to make a hasty retreat if necessary. No heroics."

She nodded to show she understood, but internally flinched in chagrin at the notion he automatically assumed she'd do something idiotic to show off. She shifted her eyes to look at the uncovered entrance to the underlying cave system, a yawning, lightless crack in the sun-baked sand and dirt. It reminded her way too much a spider scurrying over the dirt as the jerky movements of Karasu brought the puppet to the mouth crack. The puppet cleared the point where Neji had warned of chakra sensors, and Kankuro, bending over and squatting down until he was almost walking on his knees, disappeared into the ground behind it.

Matsuri watched Neji gracefully follow, unencumbered by the extra fabric of his Hyuuga robes, and felt the nerves begin to rise as Kiba moved in, looking around warily even as he instructed Akamaru to follow behind.

"Hey, Matsuri," he gestured towards his watchful dog as he spoke, "if trouble comes from behind you, lie flat and let Akamaru go get him. He can move way better than you or I can with such a low ceiling, okay?"

Matsuri simply nodded again to answer her rarely-this-serious teammate, not trusting her voice as the adrenaline began to get to her. With one last look around and sniff of the air to assure himself all was clear, Kiba darted in after Neji with Akamaru carefully stepping close behind him.

The genin took one more steady breath as she kneeled down to follow. She didn't have to duck nearly as much as her much taller teammates, but she still don't want to do something as dumb as bang her head on the sandy roof of the tunnel.

Somebody sneezed. Somebody above ground.

Her blood both halted to a dead stop and raced with a renewed vigor through her veins and arteries as she directed her senses with all strength she could muster to her forward right. One. Just one right? And not very powerful.

She carefully adjusted her stance to maneuver over the sand in a near crawl, her dark shadow on the pale sand painfully stark, as she peered towards the source of the noise, doing her best to stay hidden from view behind the rock of the boulder. Her eyes focused with painful intensity on a surprisingly small frame, or rather one that surprised they part of her mind that had conjured up images of fearsome missing nin. She blinked and almost tried to cancel a genjutsu that wasn't there as she saw a young shinobi looking around from another entry and exit point, the concealing genjutsu ruined by the person poking through it. He couldn't have been more than a genin himself, and had the peaked and underfeed look of a shinobi on the run, the knot of his hitai-ite tied unevenly over his dirty, rough-cut blondish hair. From her viewpoint crouched behind the boulder, he seemed almost… bored, as he scanned the area.

_Some lookout you are_, she snorted mentally.

The nin gave made one last visual sweep, then looked down as he began to move backward, retreating into the ground. Then he twitched and looked directly at her boulder, his jaw dropping as he gasped.

_No way!_ Her jouhyou's weight was in her hand as she launched herself over the boulder's rim and vaulted forward. The metal end flew with deadly accuracy straight at the boy, forcing him to duck awkwardly to avoid a stunning blow to his temple.

She was almost on him when he recovered, a kunai in his hand as he rose up to meet her, throwing off her attack as she spun the rope in her hand to swing the weighted end down on his head. The kunai cut forward sharply, arcing towards her gut as she planted her feet and curved her body into a C to avoid the strike, preparing to through herself backward.

Up close, she could evaluate him better, and realized he had only seemed so small compared to the shinobi she had been searching with. He was easily as big as she was, and probably heavier despite his thinness.

He used the momentum he had created with his push forward to slash again in a diagonal line across her torso from hip to shoulder. She twisted her body to the dodge the blow as she moved backward, using her body to hide her preparation as she threw the end of her jouhyou into his chest. He inhaled painfully as the heavy smashed into into his sternum above his heart, and he hadn't recovered before she had yanked the weight back and thrown it again to guide the rope to wrap around his neck.

Lassoed, Matsuri heaved on the rope to pull him over off his feet into the sand, gagging him in the process. The Gold genin hit face first and flailed as he violently inhaled sand. The kunai was in her hand, solid and second nature, as she stretched over his prone head and back to drive the fire tempered steel between his ribs, through soft, skin, muscle, and fat, into his vitals, silencing him.

And killing him.

The thought, a shadow of a mirage, the echo of a reflection, the beat of the wings of a butterflies ghost caught in the corner of the eye.

She hesitated.

He didn't.

Fast, a hard broad shoulder buried itself deep in her gut, crushing her stomach, as he lunged forward. It was her turn to suck in oven hot desert air through a gasping mouth as she slammed onto her back and bashed her head against the unyielding dirt. He appeared over her, still sputtering and choking, grasping with dirty hands for the rope of her jouhyou. She grabbed for it in reflex, but he snapped a section tight in his hands, snarling, and slammed his fists down into the sand on either side of her exposed neck, improvising a garrote, crushing the cartilage defending her trachea and cutting off the flow of blood through her throat.

She gagged, her tongue bunching behind gnashing teeth as she fought for air, his weight pressing into her stomach and chest as he tried to force the air out of her spasmming lungs, her nails scrabbling at his wrists. Her head thrashed, hair sending up sweeps of dirt as black dots appeared in wildly rolling eyes. Training took over, her hips shifting sharply for leverage, and throw all her strength in weight into pushing him off her, driving her elbow towards his temple and tearing a rope burn into her soft neck.

She failed to dislodge him the first time, but as she twisted her oxygen starved head and sucked in a desperate breath, fighting with the cough from her bruised trachea, she snatched up the heavy metal weight with one shaking hand, throwing her body into flipping their position, she continued the direction of the turn and momentum with her arm, and drove her metal reinforced strike with a slam into his face. Her fist smashed cartilage and cracked bone, bursting blood vessels with shear force and severing others with tiny razor sharp bone shards. He reflexively cried out in pain, but her next hammer blow landed. Then a third.

She stopped with her arm cocked, ready to deliver another blow, her breathing in her throat painful, the images in her vision hyper real as she looked at his bloodied face. His nose was ruined, raw mangled meat, cruor and flecks of bone. A gash was open, oozing and tattered skin rips, across his check to match the swath of redness across the left side of his face where her blows had knocked him unconscious. But he was still bleeding, a steady, non-life threatening flow that said he still had blood pressure. That his heart was still beating.

She hadn't killed him, she hadn't, but he was subdued. She'd beat him.

A shaky breath rattled into her lungs as a grin spread across her blood and sand caked lips. She began to laugh giddily as she pushed herself back, and hoisted herself staggeringly to her feet.

"I-I did it!" she chattered breathily. She smiled more strongly, her eyes closed as wet tears of relief gathered in her lashes. "I did it! I-"

_SQUELCH._

*****O*****

AN: Hate me?

This one is a little short, but this was a good place to stop. I had another little scene dealing with what Gaara was doing administration wise during this time, revolving around a writer demanding a copyright violation suite against Jiraiya for plagiarizing his novel, Saki does Suna, but it ended up being a tad wacky for this story.

The 'Baby Shoes' bit is a short story I found attributed to Hemingway.

Thank you for all the well wishes for my wrist surgery. It went really well.

Review if you like it!


	10. Senescence

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 10

The sparrow was chirruping to himself (herself?) as he hopped along the surface of the smooth-polished concrete. The little songbird happily twittered, his tiny claws scrapping lightly on the floor as he landed after each bounce, his bright eyes focused on the seeds scattered like beads along the floor the greenhouse. He came to stop on the edge of a small pile of pale yellow seed, fallen to the floor. The seed pack rested against the side of a red planter holding a bright green herb, its white blossoms open and fragrant. The bird turned his head sideways to examine the seeds, fluffed his sandy feathers, and began to peck at the morsels, singing cheerfully to himself.

A light breeze flowed through the open spaces of the greenhouse, carrying the scent and coolness of the flowers and chatter of the bird to the women seated nearby, a cup of tea cradled in her wrinkled hands. Uzume took another appreciative sip of the aromatic drink, smiling softly as the little sparrow fluffed his feathers in celebration and enthusiastically stuffed his face.

She sighed to herself, the antics of her teatime companion not quite enough to block from her mind the sounds of strain, distress, and dismay outside of the glimmering glass of the green sanctuary. The desperation of the citizens of the city was approaching riots. Unused office rooms in the Kazekage's Tower had been commandeered and redesignated as temporary holding cells once the typical jail cells had become so packed that fights and deaths were inevitable. Mixing the genuine thugs every city, even a Hidden Village, has with everyday people driven out of their reason with panic was a sure way for someone to die.

In an attempt to alleviate the difficulties associated with food distribution, Gaara-sama had banned hoarding food, including the bureaucrats guarding their ostentatiously walled orchards from other villagers. Of course, some people took advantage of the change in law to attempt to ransack merchant's estates, creating all new chaos. Worse, some of the thugs had tried to attack the greenhouses.

The sounds of vociferous arguing filtered in through the doorways. Uzume carefully set the cup down as she stood to arrange her burgundy robe and shawl. No matter how many times it was said, local crooks seemed bent on claiming the greenhouses grew food as a ploy to gain entry to see what they could steal. Perhaps seeing the Director tell-off the rabble would encourage her few employees, backed by the shinobi who would defend the greenhouse complex as part of their rounds, to keep arguing no matter how annoying and tedious it became.

A final huff, and the woman took a deep breath- then gasped as a sharp crack split the air, sending the sparrow fleeing out the doorway. Dark eyes, not quite as sharp as they once were, turned to see a jagged break through the porcelain of the teacup. Shards and powdery dust mixed with the glimmering puddle of spilt tea spreading across the tabletop.

The hands that had been smoothing her robe stilled, her breath caught in her throat.

"Oh dear Kami…"

*****O*****

The tunnel was barely large enough to move through, more akin to the dimensions of a burrow. Fine grains of sand tumbled down from the low roof of the narrow passageway into the dark caverns of the drained underground river system.

Neji inched forward, the fabric draping from his elbows brushing against the sides of the tunnel, freeing even more sand to slide loose and skitter down through the dark. Chakra flowed in a steady stream to his eyes, the distinct pressure of his bulging chakra network strong against the bones of his face and skull.

Kankuro was moving ahead of him in the dark, his puppet manipulated through the tunnel with such skill that even the rattling noise of the puppet was suspended, the weapon soundless. There were no signs of more traps ahead, but a lapse in his concentration was not acceptable. Contrary to myths perpetuated among those outside of the clan, speculations not discouraged by the Hyuuga, the Byakugan did not grant X-Ray vision nor was it simple to train oneself to understand visual input in 360˚. Even with his bloodline active, he could fail to recognize evidence of danger just as easily as he could with regular vision if not focused.

With his concentration forward as he traveled deeper into the earth, the area behind him was as indistinct as normal peripheral vision. He could see the hazy outline of Kiba's chakra network; a ghostly flame in the lightless tunnel. Though he could not see him, farther back Akamaru would be following. Matsuri would be trailing the nin-dog, but the angle of the descending tunnel put too much sand and loam between them for him to detect the kunoichi with his kekkei genkai alone.

A very subtle shift in the air brushed his face. The ground around him was not so sandy, more compact, and the pattern of the movement of the Kankuro's chakra network changed, showing greater lateral motion. A hint of light, flickering torches. The end of the tunnel was approaching.

Moving with haste was a temptation. Neji kept his pace deliberate and breathing steady as Kankuro's silhouette, and that of the puppet in front of him, became clear.

The grunt was all but inaudible as Kankuro jerked his arm, sending Karasu spearing forward. A muffled, aborted yelp.

"GO!" Kankuro was racing for the mouth of the tunnel.

Chakra rushed to his feet as Neji vaulted forward, using his hands to dig into the soil for purchase, barely aware of Kiba hurrying behind him.

He arrived the exit just in time to see the Gold nin not bleeding out on the blades of Karasu finishing a flurry of hand seals. Chakra released.

The tunnel imploded.

Heavy soil crashed onto Neji's lower half from the hips down, throwing the jounin to the rock hard floor. A blink of time and chakra blasted from the chakra points of his legs. The ground erupted in bombardment of earth. The Gold nin, gasping through the greasy curtain of his tangled hair, leapt back deeper into the caves as Neji landed lightly in front of him, sliding easily into his Juuken stance. From behind the nin, the subtle sounds of more ninja approaching could be heard.

The warm glow of the torches reflecting off the rocky walls was joined by a burst of white. Smoothly, Neji landed Juuken strike with his palm on the greasy nin's upper arm. A kunai appeared in a dirty hand with chipped nails. Too slow. A quick chakra bearing jab to the shoulder and the kunai dropped, another efficient strike to the base of the throat and a collapsed body landed at his feet.

Neji scanned the cavern made by the river system. Kankuro was alert behind him, Karasu free of the body that had been skewered on its retractable blades.

No immediate challenges.

"Kiba!" He shouted at the collapsed tunnel wall, dirt and debris spilled out onto the unforgiving rock. Dark and abrasive, the soil was motionless.

_He was too far back. They couldn't have made that distance._

"Kiba!" With more force. _And Matsuri?_

The heavy weight of the fallen sand and rock didn't stir.

_Buried alive…_

Instinct and ingrained reflex had him vaulting backward.

"Duel Piercing Fang!"

The tunnel wall exploded again as a whirlwind of chakra threw the earth into the cave. Twin spirals of raw energy shattered and scattered the debris in a rain of dirt and dust.

Kiba stumbled as he came out of the twisting rotation, coughing and gagging, his sandals skidding on the smooth stone. He threw his arms and legs outward, struggling for balance and orientation as he labored for breath, his leather jacket and spiky hair throwing dirt in a ragged arc. Beside him Akamaru scrabbled at the floor with all four paws, dirt clotting in his eyes, cling to his slobbery lips.

A big gasp and the Inuzuka righted himself, breathing hard. Black eyes met white as he looked to Neji, then he directed his attention to his canine partner. Akamaru was rubbing at his eyes in with his forepaws, slobbery and blowing hard to clear his snout.

Relief curled with a disturbing coolness through his torso as Kiba stood hunched in the tunnels.

But.

"Matsuri?" Kankuro asked, his looking over his shoulder at the Konoha shinobi as he paid attention to the stretching caverns around them.

Kiba, pale and haggard, heaved through his open mouth as he looked to his stoic taichou. Neji watched as the chuunin turned towards Akamaru. The furry head, still blowing hard, looked up to the nin, his doggy expression unreadable to the Hyuuga.

Kiba's jaw dropped farther. "What do you mean you don't know?" he hissed in effort to keep his voice low, incredulous.

Floppy, furry ears moved back and forth, and more inscrutable communication occurred.

"How was she not behind you?" he demanded. The chuunin looked up. "How was she not behind us? Didn't you see her, Neji?"

Controlling his emotions was a challenged. "I am not able to see through that amount solid matter. The distance between us in the tunnel was too great."

Kankuro didn't comment, but Kiba weaved slightly on the spot. His thoughts were easy to read.

_Maybe she got out._

"We need to move," Neji interrupted. Matsuri was an unknown, and their position had been revealed.

"There's nothing down this way," Kankuro reported frankly as he and Karasu faced towards one side of their chamber. "Trouble is that way." He looked to the other side, the tunnel from which the sounds of motion were coming. He smirked, his eyes becoming slights in his face paint. "There's no use heading into the unknown and getting lost." He focused on the source of the noise, the others turning with him. "Let's head into trouble, shall we?"

*****O*****

"Sakura, I know it can be difficult for doctors and medics to turn off their 'medical mode', but if you don't stop analyzing me, I'm going to throw your butt out."

Sakura, deciding to tread lightly to avoid an incident, laughed awkwardly, her face showing her chagrin. True, she was having a hard time just taking a walk, but she had a good reason.

The two kunoichi walked side by side, the pace the slow metered pace of a casual walk. Sakura couldn't help but listen to how Temari's feet sounded as they hit the floor, even and steady. The blonde's strength was rapidly returning, her balance and coordination exactly as they should be.

And true to form, Temari wasn't shy about it either. As soon as she had permission secured, she said, the kunoichi had dived into the bathroom for a lightening quick military shower and had changed into her standard uniform from her thin hospital gown. Her sandy blonde hair was back in its usual four-ponytail square, and her Iron Fan was secured to her back. She would have looked like her old self were it not for the lingering angularity of her face and the last vestiges of the yellow from the jaundice still tinting her skin.

This was how Sakura and the now ever-trailing Sari had found the Ambassador as she walked back and forth down the hallways of the quartered off sections of the desert hospital, her gloved hands stretched far over head as her back cracked audibly.

The hallways were the same brightly lit sandstone polished stone they had always been, with doctors, nurses, orderlies, and shinobi staff rushing from one place to another. What was different was the feel of the place. The emotions and attitudes of those hurrying by and in and out of adjacent rooms had changed drastically. Before the atmosphere was suffocating, claustrophobic, and the despair, terror, and raw anger sucked the life out of any who passed by like air from the lungs. Now hope was rising with almost hysteric urgency. The regimen of treatments, so problematic in shinobi with their large, well-developed chakra networks, were much easier in the civilians of the city. Some of the more recently infected civilians were, by all evaluations, already cured. The difficulty was the limited number of doctors on hand versus the need.

On the plus side, physical quarantine, preventing the sharing of water sources and water prepared foods, and the isolation of chakra based shinobi weapons had been determined to be enough to prevent further distribution of the tainted chakra. The water-based nature of the jutsu meant it only could remain functional if in water, such as the water rich structure of a person, or a chakra containing seal. She had been told Gaara had already approved a dispatch to Konoha asking for input on crating a counter-seal to be a 'vaccine' against reinfection.

She hoped Shino would come around soon.

"You're still doing it." Temari's blue eyes narrowed and regarded her askance.

Sakura smiled in apology and threw her hands up in a defensive gesture as Sari, who was walking just behind them rapidly turned her head back and forth between them. It was clear Temari's cabin fever had just about depleted the taller kunoichi's good will.

"You said yourself it's difficult," Sakura pleaded lightly, trying placate her companion. "Besides, what else should I do while we just walk in circles?"

"You mean you're bored?"

Implied: _Then go do something else! _

"No!" Sakura insisted reflexively. "It's just that you don't seem very talkative."

Temari's blue eyes rolled to look on the upper diagonal. Her still chapped lips quirked up, and Sakura suddenly had a very ominous feeling. Apparently, Temari wanted to talk about something, just not with present company; namely the entire hospital stuff swarming around them.

_She wants to discuss my relationship- thing… whatever! - with Gaara. Oh, please not that…_

She really did not need someone like Temari focused on getting her and Gaara to get serious.

Sakura could practically feel Sari freeze up in the wave of awkwardness trailing behind them.

"Don't tell me you're bashful, Sakura," Temari muttered quietly, the half-smile in her voice setting off all sorts of warning bells in Sakura's mind.

If Temari figured out how to get to her when it came to Gaara, she was doomed.

She forced herself to remain cool and detached. "Not particularly." She paused to appear nonchalant. "Why do you ask?" She turned big green eyes to look innocently at her counterpart.

Temari opened her mouth to answer, only to abruptly look away, her attention directed forward. Sakura followed her gaze to see a chuunin with the insignia of the Cipher Squad and a look of mild panic come rushing through the sea of scrubs and lab coats.

"Chuunin," Temari called, causing the messenger to whip his turban covered head towards her so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. The man corrected himself and danced his way through the crowd to stand in front of the jounin.

"Temari-sama," he began, slightly breathless, as Sakura and Sari leaned in to hear over the scrape and bustle of the hallway. "We recently received a dispatch from Kankuro-sama's squad." The man stopped, his dark eyes shifting in a way that suggested the rest should be said privately.

As Temari briskly nodded her understanding, Sakura looked around briefly until she saw the door to a room she knew to have been recently emptied during her rounds.

"Here."

The group followed the beacon of red and pink to the door. Sakura grabbed the handle and pushed it open to find an orderly preparing the bed for a new patient. As the grey-haired woman looked up from spreading the clean sheets, she started in surprise at the person who walked in behind the pink-haired foreigner.

"We need to borrow this room, orderly-san," Sakura explained as the woman tried not to gape at Temari. "You can have it again as soon as were done."

The woman excused herself and hurried out the door.

Temari didn't waste any time. "What do you have?"

"Ma'am!" the chuunin withdrew the message scroll from his pouch and handed it to the jounin. "The dispatch from Kankuro-sama states they have found the entrance to the underground system where the enemy is believed to be hiding. All but his squad was destroyed in an ambush during the last sandstorm. He made the decision to go infiltrate the base and requests the Village send any help available."

Sakura felt her heart jump up and them then slam to the floor as the messenger spoke, her eyes widening. Her mind automatically balked at the logic of going in to what amounted to an enemy fortress after suffering massive casualties in an ambush, but a second later the knowledge of why made itself known. What good did it do to fallback if you couldn't expect reinforcements and the enemy could just refine their plans in the meantime? How could they send now?

_I should go_. She should be with her team after all, and they needed a medic.

"Understood." Temari said, quickly reviewing the inked message before closing the scroll. "Forward this to Gaara, which is what I'm sure you were doing."

Temari stepped aside to let the man exit the room, before turning to Sakura.

"I'm ready. You?"

Sakura blinked. "Are you telling me you want to go?" In her condition? She was almost dead for most of the past week!

"Of course I am," Temari said sternly, looking Sakura dead in the eye. "For numerous reasons we don't have time to discuss. Don't even try to stop me."

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch as she pictured the brawl that was going to follow if they tried to match wills and what Tsunade would do to her when she found out.

"You aren't fit for duty," she pointed out flatly.

"Close enough," Temari countered. "And I am not leaving my brother out there without back up. Especially not when I'm immediately under Gaara in authority, and especially not during a crisis where he's going after the people who did all this."

Temari's teeth clicked shut with finality the marked the argument closed. "You would do the same thing if you were me. Coming or not?"

Sakura hated that Temari was right. She was going to be in so much trouble as a medic for letting a key diplomat and relative of the Kazekage go out into battle unfit and when it was almost certainly into a loss given the strategic disadvantage.

"As you wish." Sakura scowled and rolled her shoulders.

"You, Sari-kun," Temari called the genin, who had been playing the fly on the wall, over to herself. The lanky girl skittered over to the much taller jounin, big brown eyes wide with trepidation. "I want you to stay close to Sakura and I. Stay out of combat unless one of us clear you."

The brunette's nervous energy nearly exploded out of her skin. "I'm going with you?!" She looked as though she'd been informed she was going to be used for target practice at the Academy.

Even as Sakura had her doubts about brining along such a green shinobi, Temari removed any room for escape.

"Are you a Suna kunoichi or aren't you?" she challenged, her voice sharp.

The genin snapped to attention, her narrow shoulders way too rigid. "Hai!"

"Then you're coming," Temari finished.

The blonde turned to the medic. "Let's go."

*****O*****

The mild ache in his lungs caused by his fight for air while buried in the ground was fading. It had been frickin' annoying to be buried like that out of the blue. These Gold nin were going to have to try a lot harder than that to kill him, but little tricks like that were so irritating. He had to take a minute to get out and get reoriented before he could fight and that just slowed him down. That and the second it took to coordinate with Akamaru.

Kiba flared his nostrils as he pulled in the scents, aromas, and odors of the drained underground river system. Mostly odors.

The Gold nin's hideout was far from sophisticated, definitely a casualty of their refugee, guerilla group lifestyle. The reek of the acrid smell unwashed human body, sulfuric stench of improper sanitation, and the rot and decay of poor maintenance and a lack of fresh supplies marked the center of operations. Smells and odor filtered out like the tentacles of a sea creature. At least it made it hard for the nin to sneak up on their team.

The cavern, easily the size of the old hall were they had faced their first preliminary of the third portion of the chuunin exams, worn smooth by millennia of rushing water, echoed and reverberated with sounds of shattering stone and shrieks and calls of battles.

It was so much better than sniffing the dirt for clues.

"_Hah!_"

His shout tricked his opponent, a dirt-caked, sallow skinned nin in a stolen Iwa flak jacket, to look just in time for the tread of Kiba's sandals to plant their pattern on his face. Kiba rode the momentum and the man's face into the ground with a wet thud, then pulled out a kunai to deflect an incoming barrage of shuriken.

The attacker dashed forward, chambering a kick to crash into Kiba's head. He ducked the blow, then jumped back to avoid the hasty kick meant for his gut. Kiba cocked his arm, the hand clenched in a fist around the kunai punching forward, aiming for them Gold shinobi's nose to crush it. The nin flung himself to the side, narrowing avoiding the glinting tip of the trailing blade, only to double over as Kiba's knee buried itself in his solar plexus. A hammer blow to the back of the nin's skull sent him crashing into the rocky floor.

A toothy grin split the lower half of his face. _Alright, good times_. He looked up, confirming what his other senses had already picked up. Gold nin were tossed across the rocky floor like rag dolls, one of them covered in white dog hair.

He jogged over to where Neji stood in the cave, scanning carefully with his Byakugan.

"Not too bad," he observed, as Akamaru, looking around the bend in the tunnels ahead, panted calmly. "What's ahead?"

"I know you're glad to be able to finally fight with someone, Kiba. Don't get carried away."

Kiba responded with a snort, his jovial mood dampened by the rebuke. _You know why I want them so bad_. He gave Neji a small glare as he looked to where Kankuro was inspecting Karasu for damage.

"These shinobi are all but sick their condition is so bad," Kankuro commented, his eyes still on his wooden puppet. He turned them to look at Kiba. "They must be desperate to finish what they're doing, and believe they're close to accomplishing it."

Neji nodded briefly, while Kiba scowled. _Well, duh_. He redirected his attention to Akamaru, who was giving no sign more Gold nin were coming. They were regrouping somewhere.

"Let's get organized and go then," Kiba said, keeping the grumble out of his voice.

"I see no indications of traps, detectors, a counter-offensive, or anything to tell us if we're approaching the shinobi powering the seal," Neji reported. "There is a minor tunnel branching off to the right ahead. Kiba, which direction?"

Kiba took another breath, the putrid smells in the cavern hitting his lungs. "We definitely want the major tunnel."

"Right," Kankuro muttered, walking forward, his three-eyed puppet chattering noisily. "Move out."

*****O*****

The leafs of papers shuffled through his hands as he examined the names now available for the duty roster. The number fallen ill had increased, but the number of actual casualties had stabilized.

Baki controlled his frown as he regarded the information, even though there was no one in the empty hallway outside the Kazekage's office to draw conclusions from his expression. Gaara-sama had dismissed the ceremonial guard to perform the duties where they could actual be useful.

The rough sound of the paper brushing against itself as he shuffled the report echoed slightly in the empty corridor then was joined by the sound of rapid steps approaching. The jounin looked up to see a chuunin messenger rushing towards him, the cloth of his turban extending past his hitai-ite flapping with in the breeze he was creating.

"Sir! I have an emergency dispatch for the Kazekage-sama."

Baki turned to regard the messenger, noting the man flinching as he saw the hard lines he wore as his expression. "The Kazekage-sama is not in his office."

"I know, Sir," the man flinched again as he was mildly reprimanded for not knowing where his Kage was, rushing into a restricted area and taking up the time of a senior officer. "I searched everywhere. But you know his location, Sir."

The old soldier looked towards the chuunin with more regard. As of late, every small dispatch was handled with utmost priority. Gaara did not want to see one more 'emergency' concerning a Council Member not having access to enough oranges to properly flavor the ten tier chocolate cake for his daughter's thirteenth birthday.

'_This time of rationing and quarantine is bad enough, and now a young lady of her standing must suffer through a party unbefitting of her station!'_

The soldier would only be so insistent if the messenger was actually important.

"What do you have, chuunin?" Baki asked as he held out his hand for the offered scroll.

"A message handed over from the Cipher Squad. Kankuro-sama's latest dispatch." The messenger was direct and succinct. " His squad discovered an entrance to the enemy's fortification and chose to engage. He has requested any available reinforcements."

The chuunin's voice began to fade as Baki rapidly headed down the empty hall to the underground levels where Gaara could be found. Gaara had left orders to not receive any dispatches unless his former sensei cleared them first. "You should have come to me to clear the orders first."

"Of course, Sir," the man said as he rushed after the retreating jounin, "but the orders were already cleared by Temari-sama."

Really? He turned his head to talk over his shoulder. "Did she add her own comments?"

"No, Sir."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Temari-sama must have decided to handle it herself," the man continued, the note of relief at having passed on his message detectable. "Temari-sama, Haruno-san, and the genin Sari-san have deployed in the direction of the Oasis."

Baki's sandals nearly squeaked against the polished stone as he halted.

"_Say that again_?"

*****O*****

The dunes were high. The storm had rearranged the grit and dust, making each long stride of the trio of kunoichi toss up a sandy cloud in their wake.

In an odd way, the dunes were like a work of art. The shapes of the dunes, the degradation of color where pristine sunlit white faded to cool blue shadows. The mix of shapes and colors continued endless toward the gentle arc of the horizon. Unmarred, clean, without any taint.

The sun was setting fast. Traveling during the high heat of the afternoon had been very unwise from a desert safety standpoint, but necessary. Sakura had been sure to watch both Suna kunoichi to monitor their water intake despite knowing they would never be careless enough allow themselves to dehydrate. It was easier than allowing her mind to dwell too much on what might be awaiting their small team.

Slit open abdomens, guts splattered on the floor, slick with their with their own juices. Necks snapped and torn so vertebrae thrust through rent flesh lying like a useless blanket. Faces charred and ashen, black maws frozen in open gapes of horror. But rarely burned hot enough to remove all moisture.

Her hand reached down for her water bottle, hand tightening on the neck and she pulled it free with a gloved hand. She watched ahead of her as Temari and Sari jumped effortless towards the Oasis ahead. They had to be approaching the rest point soon.

As if on cue the black robes of Temari landed atop a rock jutting up out of the sand. Once she was sure her teammates were joining her, she slipped down into the ragged shadow.

"No complaints?" Sakura asked as she ducked into the cool shade, carefully eyeing the recovering jounin and rookie genin, searching for signs of over exertion. Temari was somewhat pale, but not enough to suggest she was experiencing anything more than effects of the long run. Sari was panting slightly as she used her hands to tighten the cloth tied over her hair, but nothing excessive.

"No, Sakura-san." Sari was reaching for the water bottle at her hip.

"Nothing," Temari took a deep breath, looking up at the sky, reading it without the interference of the sun's reflected glare.

The break needed to be brief, and Sakura pulled out one of the soldier pills they had agreed to use on the run. It wouldn't be good to have their stomachs and muscles competing for oxygenated blood.

"I want us to move in a tighter group as we approach the Oasis," Temari said, earning a puzzled look from the medic. "I want us to maintain close proximity for defense."

Oddly enough, due to their unusual circumstances, during an attack they would need to remain close to each other. A rookie genin, a medic, or a long distance specialist did not want to be trapped in the open alone.

Their trio leaped back out into the sun, its rays darkening to orange as it approached the horizon, the sky around it darkening. In a way, the darkness would help to provide a cover they needed once approached the perimeter.

"You're something of a natural when it comes to desert travel Sakura," Temari observed, her sandy blonde bangs blown back from her hitai-ite.

Sakura shrugged, looking at her out of the corner of her eye. "It's natural for a shinobi to travel through all environments with ease, is it not?" she answered.

"True, but you don't seem to have any problems with it, unlike some of the other shinobi who come out of the trees," she said with a teasing grin. "Quite a difference from how you handle our coffee."

Sakura grinned weakly, certain her ears were turning a color to match her hair. She could practically feel Sari's surprised look on the back of her head.

"Good to know since you'll be spending a lot of time here."

_She is merciless when she wants to be_. The idea of how she would face off against Temari as a sister-in-law came to mind; an idea ruthlessly quashed.

"I won't be here that often," Sakura countered reasonably, before the group left of the apex of dune onto the next. "I have a lot I'm doing in Konoha."

"Are you saying you're jerking my brother around?"

"No! I…" Turning to Temari, she could see the jounin was kidding, but not completely. Blue-green eyes were carefully watching for her answer.

"No, I'm not…I am not taking Gaara's feelings lightly, Temari, but it's a little early to get serious."

There was going to be an international incident yet at this rate. How did she do these things to herself? Not only did she pick socially isolated, emotionally damaged guys, she had to fall for one with the possibility of future warfare as consequence if they had a nasty break up.

Then came the small voice from their back. "Sakura-san? Ohf!"

Sakura didn't have to look behind her to Sari's shocked expression, or the fact she had nearly done a face-plant in the sand during her next landing. The medic cringed as she imagined the gossip.

"Gaara and have known each other a while," she said over her shoulder, a shaky smile on her face. Again. "It's not like were a couple or anything."

"You aren't?"

Temari must be laughing hysterically on the inside by now.

"No, we aren't. We are not," she answered confidently, trying to avert disaster. "We are close based on our shared history."

"But you just said he has feelings for you and you are aware."

_Kami, what did I do that offended you this much?_ "True, but I have a lot of training left to do under Tsunade-shishou… and some history if have to clear up. Gaara knows these things. And who knows what will happen between now and then?"

Temari looked towards her again, squinting slightly against the angle of the sun. "You intend to learn everything possible from the Hokage-sama?" she asked in the tone of one confirming established fact.

"Yes, of course."

"And then you'll come back?"

"Ye-, no! … I will at some point in accordance with a mission, I'm sure." _Yup, merciless._

It was obvious that Temari was enjoying teasing her before they had to face whatever was underground, but she was also genuinely interested in just how deep her feelings ran. Getting serious at this point was nothing short of crazy. They were only 15! Even if they didn't both have a lot of learning and training to go through, it wasn't like they'd get married anytime soon.

Or married at all! That was so far in the future. It was something she had to aware of because of how Gaara's position of Kazekage affected his personal life, but that didn't mean she had to focus on it. She had wanted to get married at some point anyway. Having a husband and kids was something that she wanted to have, but now anytime soon! Temari's was really pushing too hard.

"But you'll come back for Gaara too, right?" the blonde asked.

Sakura suppressed a sigh. "Honestly, who knows? I'm not psychic."

Temari's teasing faded. "You know you can't take this anything but seriously, Sakura, if you can't see becoming serious with Gaara in the future, don't even start in that direction."

The finality of Temari's words surprised her, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "Why?"

Temari turned her head to face her fully, her expression focused. "As time passes Gaara is going to have fewer and fewer people he can trust. He's never had a network of people could trust, but due to his position people will always attempt to manipulate him, and the people who rise to positions to interact with him will especially be career manipulators. Do you understand?"

A wait settled on her mind as she processed the ramifications of Temari's words. If Gaara wanted to marry someday, it would be difficult for him to find someone through his connections that would not have ambitions and aspirations or be a puppet of someone else's. Someone as emotional fragile as Gaara would be crushed by most of the usual potential brides. The more time went by, the more he would have a network of only those dubious persons as he lost contact with old friends he acquired before rising to a position of power.

In other words, he had to find someone he could marry soon to be anything like happy with a wife. Even if it was only a companionate marriage and not a romantic one. If she wasn't capable of seeing herself marrying him in the future, she needed to bow out know for his sake.

"Sakura-san is going to marry the Kazekage-sama?" Sari sounded flabbergasted.

Something in her tone made Sakura look back to the genin's mildly perturbed expression.

"Sari, would it be unacceptable somehow if I were to marry the Kazekage?" she called over her shoulder.

Sari increased her pace over the sand to bring herself closer to the other kunoichi. "The Kazekage-sama is from Suna. He should marry someone from Suna."

Sakura felt her eyebrows go up as she returned her attention to the blonde. "Would marrying me get Gaara in trouble with the Village Council?"

"Having a pulse gets Gaara in trouble with the Village Council," Temari answered. "Don't worry about that."

Sakura was opening her mouth to object before the hand of Temari rose up to cut her off, her pony-tailed head jerking in the direction they were traveling. Looking ahead, she could see a change on the deep blue horizon, the appearance of moisture in the sandy ground. Beneath their sandals, the sandy dunes were giving way to hard-packed, fine-grained soil with a smattering of thorny shrubs.

Nodding sharply to show she wanted them to move forward, the group continued creeping over the scrubland in silence.

*****O*****

Curls of sand heaved through the sky in spitting arcs, whipping and snapping in violent twists. Grains hissed, rushed, and sliced against each other, rough, grating, harsh, crushing out any hint of air between them.

Chakra swirled into the vortex, twisting in tight tendrils between each individual piece of grit, speak of dirt, shard of natural glass, driving it, empowering it, sending into a rage of energy that surged with relentless speed over the sun-blasted desert below as it ferried its master north.

He was going to give Temari _such_ a lecture; maybe put her on desk duty until she begs for mercy.

The hoards of turbulent sands hid the lightening bolt of chakra arcing between grains, but it did nothing to hide the thunder in Kazekage's expression. Temari's behavior was irresponsible, unprofessional, and borderline insubordinate. Her symptoms were too severe to qualify as walking wounded. She should not have returned to combat. The offence was reproachable in a foot soldier, worse in someone of her rank and command.

She had taken both Sakura and the genin Sari with her.

Anger burned in his veins, raw like the rip of sand on fragile skin. His eyes narrowed as he stood, ostensibly aloof on the platform of the racing waves of sand. A rescue mission had just become unnecessarily complicated. Finding Kankuro and the rest of the Konoha squad in limited time was a challenge unto itself. Now, he had to find a Temari's 'team', and especially had to find Sakura, the only true medic in the operation. If he couldn't locate her and secure her to heal the wounded, it was likely they would face casualties.

Gaara inhaled slowly, attempting to cool the heat bubbling just under the skin, the fizzling of tainted chakra. The Shukaku was active, delighted, and almost smug with enjoyment of the situation. The monster roiled and growled, purred and chuckled, in the void at the back of his conscious, working poisonous lancets of miasma-like chakra into his mind, scraping at his sanity, dissolving his control, inspiring that giddy feeling of total chaos as reality began to break apart, splintering at it's edges, the cracks breaking inward…

Gaara blinked. The Shukaku rumbled, vibrating though his very bones.

This mission was becoming increasingly complicated.

*****O*****

The degree to which she felt better was impressive. None of the aches or soreness Temari had anticipated in her muscles, joints, or head lingered as their team nearly crawled over the sandy terrain, watching each other for warnings of quicksand. It was a relief as great as the feeling of being back in the field.

Their trio crouched low and looked carefully for tripwires, lookouts, and any of the nin-lizards that had been detailed in Kankuro's report. The powdery topsoil had only the faintest trace of lizard footprints, and no trace of human footprints yet. It seemed the enemy had taken pains to erase the tracks that had given away their position previously.

Temari carefully shifted her weight from one hand to the other as she prepared to crawl forward, the weight of the fan on her back nearly a part of her after so many years carrying it. Her eyes, wide open to bring as much of the fading light as possible, spotted the outline of a sandal print. Keeping her breathing measured, she determined its direction and looked to where the person that had left the mark was traveling. Her gaze tracked up, and noted a darker shadow in a slight rise in the ground. Her eyes narrowed. Either the team in the drained river had disrupted the defenses to the point the Gold nin faction couldn't maintain a decent guard, or their three-man squad was being offered an open invitation.

Her hand moved in a silent signal, and Temari indicated the dark gap in the ground ahead. She sensed rather than saw Sakura and Sari creep over the ground to her, their attention on the entrance point. A quick look to her two teammates relied what she need to know.

Sakura was cool and focused. Her breathing was even and steady, her shoulders straight beneath her red shirt, but not rigid. The guts she had seen from the medic were in clear show; her sparking slightly as she visibly psyched herself up.

_Good_.

Sari was trying to hide her fear, but not succeeding. Big hazel irises were surrounded by white sclera, pupils dilated to maximum. The adrenaline rush of the impending fight was written all over her posture and breathing, a visible effort to keep her breathing steady advertised by a clenched jaw tightly pressed lips. But she was dug in, literally, as her small hands curled in the sand, refusing to bolt.

_Good enough_.

Temari swiveled her head toward the gap and began crawling forward, all her senses already carefully attuned to the entrance.

She moved slowly, expanding and extending her sense of touch, straining the nerves of her fingertips, feeling for wires, triggers or chakra lines hidden in the grit. Her eyes scanned the ground in front of her, searching for any sign of irregularity or disturbance in the rough sand and chalky dust. No sign of alarms or traps met her detection, and the tunnel itself was large enough to suggest it was in regular use by the shinobi encamped within.

Fine particle of sand fell from the tunnel ceiling, catching in her hair. The ground changed from dust to soil, the oppressive blanket of darkness all encompassing, smothering, isolating, until broken by the quavering glow of flame lit torches. She crept out of the pressing earth, breathing deep as she emerged in a large tunnel, easily the size of the Council's conference room. She scanned the space.

And froze.

"Sakura!"

*****O*****

During any other mission their tactics, or rather lack thereof, would be akin to suicide. Ninjas learn art of stealth for a reason; a fact drilled into the tiny brain of every new genin that plants it's butt in an Academy chair. Knowledge: often the key to winning a battle. Leaving evidence and trails in ones wake leaves a mountain of deduced facts and clues to sift through that even civilians could decipher with half a functioning neuron.

It grated on Kankuro's nerves to ignore such ingrained teachings to leave such a clear mess as they moved through the enemy base. If it could be called that. The network of caves, caverns, and passages beneath the wastelands were a testament to the age of the ancient river that flowed beneath Suna. The flow of water over millennia had carved out numerous different paths in the desert rock and soil. Tunnels ranged in size from barely the width of an arm to the expanse of a stadium. Chambers had formed where water had swirled in circles against rock only to find an easier path through the ground and switch to that direction of flow. Branches of the system disconnected and reconnected, creating intersecting twists and turns. The river had carved down over time, leaving open air, and the rain water seeping down and created stalactites and stalagmites in the higher stretches of rock. The whole labyrinth had been polished smooth by water, and echoed cacophonously with the sounds of combat.

It was clear that the Gold nin themselves were unable to block every opening of the network, and hadn't even bothered. This brought up a range of possibilities, not the least of which was fears of collapse or even flooding. The tunnels were not a suitable defensible position. Which brought up the question:

"Are these guys nuts?" Kiba muttered, sniffing the air and motioning to his comrades to follow as he choose one of the pathways at a rocky intersection. Akamaru padded along beside, wars and nose twitching.

"Desperate," Neji answered, his Byakugan examining of every inch of wavy stone and piled debris. "But why?"

Kankuro scowled deeper as he tested the connection of chakra strings that connected to Karasu, his fingers flexing diagnostically as he mulled over his observations. Not only were the Gold nin in a poor position, they were in shambles. The majority of the shinobi they had encountered were just plain pitiful.

Underfed, unwashed, poorly equipped with chipped kunai and shuriken, and uniforms that were patchwork, worn through, or salvaged from other Villages or clans. Their ninja skills were crap. Their team hadn't encountered a jounin level opponent yet. He would have expected nin surviving in hiding to be, if not in ideal physical condition, to have exceptional survival skills and guerilla fighting tactics. These shinobi couldn't even manage a respectable defense of their base.

These shinobi were barely a step up from common civilian street people. Oh, they were definitely desperate. Time was short on something.

Not just their mission. That was only a consequence. Their mission was the result of running out of time. What were they about to lose, or what was about to happen that drove them to such drastic, almost stupid actions? Were the entirety of the remaining Gold nin committed to this operation? Where were the shinobi that had destroyed his units during the sandstorm? Was it a few talented shinobi manipulating impressionable, vulnerable clan members?

"Alright," Kiba said, his profile revealing a lip curled up to expose fang like canine teeth. He turned to face his teammates, his expression focused. "I'm pretty sure there is a major group pf Gold nin just ahead. They're being as quiet as possible."

"How many?" Kankuro directed his attention on the weight of the summoning scroll secured horizontally above the back of his waist, ready for use.

"I can't tell," Kiba admitted with mild frustration. "It smells as though there is one body emitting a massive amount of odor, scent particles, but he'd have to be huge."

"How big is 'huge'?" Neji asked, white eyes reflecting slight puzzlement.

"Like a whale," Kiba said flatly. "Think an Akamichi in beat-down mode." He paused, his lips turned down in doubt. "These Gold nin don't have that type of jutsu, right?"

The Hyuuga's neutral expression was irritating. "Not that we know of."

"Oh, that clears it up. Wonderful. Awesome."

"Kiba, is it possible you smell whoever is the source for the seal?" Neji continued.

An eyebrow shot up in response. "That big? Wouldn't that be way outside of what your records indicated?"

"Is there a way we can spy on them?" Neji asked calmly. "Do the air currents indicate a high, narrow air flow nearby?"

The Inuzuka closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, his ribs expanding as far the ligaments would allow. His opened slightly. "No, but I can tell you which tunnels are the least used. We can approach with caution."

"That will do." Neji started walking forward, Byakugan trained in the direction Kiba was facing. The team had only traveled a short distance when the Hyuuga abruptly halted, his posture rigid even for him.

"What do you see?" Why else would a Hyuuga freeze up?

It irked him a little when Neji addressed Kiba instead.

"Kiba, is the source of the massive odor directly ahead?"

Kankuro followed Neji's line of sight to a spectacularly blank rock wall. He grit his teeth.

Kiba stopped moving forward, Akamaru stopping with him. "Yeah, why?"

"_What do you see?_" Again, with greater emphasis. And menace.

"A… tremendous chakra network unlike any I have ever seen." Neji's voice was awed, making Kankuro stare in shock. What made a stiff like this lose his composure? "A truly massive amount of chakra, flowing in a gigantic bloated mass." He paused as both of his companions kept staring. "It appears to be one, _impossibly_ obese person. The amount of charka…" He struggled for words. "…Inhumanly large enough to be visible even through solid rock."

Kiba, shocked still, was left with his jaw hanging at the look on the jounin's normally stoic face. "How big is 'inhumanly large'?"

Neji managed to tear his eyes away from only what he could see to regard Kiba with a look that was a bizarre mix of mildly horrified and deadpan.

"I maintain 'inhumanly large' is an accurate description."

*****O*****

The dull light from the torches lighting the underground system beyond illuminated the twilight point at the narrow mouth of the passageway as Sakura rushed forward, individual points of light glinting of quartz grains like an absurd parody of stars. Her hands flexed inside the charka reinforced fabric of her gloves, palms curling and fingers digging into the crumbling soil as she pushed herself forward with all the force and speed she could manage, hunched over and confined in the tight space. One last push from her sandals as she dug into the soil for purchase and she burst into the light, automatically pulling up both her fists into a guard and shifting her weight into a fighting stance.

She was far too familiar with that tone, the one other shinobi used when they called for a medic. Temari had moved slightly to one side of the tunnel mouth to let her see the cause for alarm. Bright green eyes took in the sight ahead in crystal clear detail, every rod and cone sparking, sending an image to her brain for process that had every nerve in her body hyperactive. She was barely aware of Sari crawling out of the tunnel behind her onto the smooth river rock, or the squeak of horror the rookie didn't quite suppress.

Standing side by side with Temari, the jounin's hand already on the top of the fan on her back, Sakura reigned in the chaos of mental and physical reactions ricocheting through her consciousness to focus on the site in front of her.

Matsuri had been nearly gutted. Even from the distance across the cavernous hollow in the rock, the loops of bowl protruding from the bloody seems cut into her abdomen were obvious. Sections of bowel protruding through secondary punctures were purpling, oxygen-starved, twisted on the themselves such that the blood supply was cut off. Filthy, yellow-tinged bandages, with brown tinged flecks of discoloration were the blood from previous wounded had been insufficiently cleaned and sanitized, were wrapped around the ruptured gut, soaking up seeping blood and trickling interior fluids. It was obvious they hadn't been placed there by a healer, or any one with any intent of helping her. The lines of threadbare linen were cunningly placed in there position to provide enough pressure to prevent the fragile connective tissue anchoring the protruding organs to the back of the abdominal cavity from tearing free; and to keep Matsuri securely fastened to the post. The rough-hewn piece of wood, splinters and chips clearly jutting into the air and certainly Matsuri's vulnerable skin, had been partially buried in the cave floor to stand vertical. Matsuri hung suspended; her hands tied back to back above and behind her on the back pf the posts, her body's leaking fluids soaking down her bare legs into the tops of her shin guards.

Her color was horrible, pallid with darkened circles appearing under closed eyes, even the dark bruises that had started to appear on her skin and torso discolored, the lines of blood from her mouth and nose oxidizing and drying to crusty brown.

_She's bait._

Behind the genin was an uneven rise of rock, not a smooth as the recent. Probably the result of a fairly recent cave in. The broken mass of stone provided the perfect advantage point in the cave.

"Sakura…" Temari hissed, wanting her evaluation.

If Matsuri were dead, she wouldn't still be bleeding from her gut. She still had blood pressure, and a pulse. Temari would not be angry enough to fail to notice.

"I'm not going to be able to move her until I've had time to stabilize her," she breathed in answer. "We have to hold that high ground."

"Right."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura watched Temari loosen her fan, moving it in front of her. She kept the Iron Fan closed, holding it like a bludgeon, aware her Wind jutsu might be powerful enough to overwhelm and tear the ratty bandages or even knock over the piece of wood at it's base.

The sounds of dry retching were beginning behind her. "Sari," she whispered, making her voice as firm as possible, and heard the retching abort in a gagged hiccup. Sakura turned her head, trusting Temari to keep watch, to examine the genin. She was a ghastly green and visibly trembling with nausea and horror, but still on her feet.

"Sari, now is not the time, I need you to help me with Matsuri." The genin blanched, the last of the blood leaving her face. Sakura ignored it. "Sari, I need the extra pair of hands, and for you to watch my back while I work. Understand?"

Sari was on the verge of passing out. Sakura, narrowing her eyes, decided to borrow a page from her shishou's book of motivation.

"PULL IT TOGETHER, SARI!"

The rookie nearly hit the ceiling in shock, and Temari tensed as the roar triggered a reaction in the enemy.

"Ahead!"

A series of brown streaks appeared over the broken, ending a line of ragged looking shinobi facing them from just behind Matsuri's post. Sakura felt a flicker of confusion as she evaluated their bony frames, more than one snarling such that she could teeth rotted beyond saving. This was beyond the wear of a difficult long-term mission in the field. They were all in a state of neglect, at least.

One of them, who looked better fed than his counterparts, grinned at the kunoichi at the tunnel mouth, revealing two broken teeth.

"Well, ain't this unexpected?" He leered as he saw the lean genin and showed even more teeth as he recognized Temari. "The Kazekage's own sister. Ain't you dead yet?" He seemed to chuckle at his perceived cleverness. "Guess you're lookin' for help?"

Temari dismissed the taunt. "What are you doing here in Wind Country?!" she demanded, adjusting her fan in her hands, ready to smash the man's skull into pulpy shards beneath his scalp. "Explain yourself!"

The man sneered, the expression highlighting the dirt and grease collecting in the wrinkles around his mouth. "You ain't in charge here!"

Sakura felt her jaw clench as the trash spat insults. Had he been hoping they'd beg for Matsuri? Or be intimidated into acquiescence? Was he simply that arrogant? His control over his emotions was weak.

"You ain't nearly as important as you think you are!" he declared. "Just another stupid little girl playing ninja!" He addressed his cohorts. "Kill the two from Suna however you like. The pink-head we're supposed to torture!"

_What in the world?_ Why her?

The Gold nin forces charged forward. Sakura moved behind Temari as she began to race around the cave wall, feeling Sari following right on her heels. They need to circle around together until they could get between the enemy and Matsuri to be certain she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

A barrage of shuriken and kunai were easily deflected with a few smooth rotations of Temari's closed fan. The projectiles clattered to the stone, clearly nicked and with hints of rust.

A Gold nin quickly flashed through a set of seals. The sound of a slight crack was Sakura's only warning before a huge pillar of stone burst from the floor just before her feet, blocking their path.

Not even a challenge. Chakra flowed into her hands, rushing to the fine chakra network lines in her fingers and knuckles. She twisted her torso back for maximum impact, aware of Sari letting a squeak of shock and dodging her flying elbow.

"HAH!!" Her fist impacted the boulder, shattering it to pulverized chips and bits of stone flying towards her attackers, the wind created by her chakra burst dispersing even the finest billows of dust. She charged forward without missing a beat, Temari and Sari immediately with her. She felt the reverberations in her feet as heavy rocks from an Earth jutsu pounded the spot where they would have been pinned.

Temari twisted her head, looking over her shoulder. Behind her was the nin that had cast the second jutsu. With one hand she opened her fan, twisting mid run to face backward bringing her fan around in arc before finishing her spin and running forward again.

The wind kicked up, surging in a rush, blasting into the stunned target with enough force to topple full-grown pine trees. The man's scream was swallowed by the winds howl, but Sakura just caught gurgles as ribs cracked and broke as he slammed onto the unyielding stone floor.

Sakura slipped her hand into her kunai pouch, slipping a trio between her knuckles to throw at their stunned opponents to keep them off balance. Another pillar of rock ahead, no two, trying to smash their team in between like a hammer and anvil. Rock shot up violently from immediately above and below her, the blow to the bottom of her foot mid stride would have crushed and destroyed the knee and hop joints of a civilian. Instinctively she shot her other hand out to grab the collar of a stumbling Sari. Enemy kunai slammed into the meat of her thigh and upper arm, then dropped to the ground embedded in a log surrounded by swirling smoke.

Sakura reappeared in the face of Gold nin that had wandered too far from his counterparts in his enthusiasm. He didn't react fast enough as she kicked him across his jaw, dislocating it. She released Sari's uniform to land a haymaker to his temple, collapsing him on the spot.

She jumped, somersaulting into the air, dodging the rift in the ground that opened beneath her feet as new jutsu immediately tore through the stone cave floor like an earthquake. The rumbling and cracking in her ears didn't mask the sound of the approaching Gold nin, and she twisted in mid air, suspended upside down, to bring her hand around and throw her fistful of kunai at near point blank range. Razor shape blades buried themselves in his exposed throat, and crumpled towards the ground, descending into the opening rift.

She uncurled herself to land on the edge of the gap, only the chakra on the soles of her feet keeping her from tumbling backward of the precipice. She vaulted up onto the lowest of the pile of rocks and boulders that lead up to Matsuri. She whirled her head to look for Sari, who had a kunai in her hand and was jumping from point to point to avoid the Gold nin. Temari had beaten them both to the rise of rock, having somehow, probably using her fan, jumped behind the enemy line.

She leapt forward, Iron Fan above her head and brought it down in front of her with sledgehammer force, causing her opponent to leap backward or lose his skull. She now stood with Matsuri off to her side, out of danger. The man threw a hand full of shuriken and started another series of hand seals. Temari opened her fan in a quick flick in front of her, sending out a short, powerful gust of wind that sent both shuriken and shinobi off their feet and into the air at an angle. Jumping up above both, Temari swung her fan all the way behind her, before swinging it in a full circle. The Wind roared through the air and hit the man's body, visibly breaking his facial bones on impact in a spurt of blood before forcing him onto the stone with all the furious force of a tornado.

Sakura landed next to the post holding Matsuri, noting Sari jumping toward her. Fortunately, as a lesser threat she was drawing less attention. Sakura analyzed Matsuri with a combat surgeon's skill, quickly deducing she was under the influence of a jutsu keeping her asleep. Good. They hadn't wanted to risk her waking and going into shock as long as she was useful, and the jutsu would keep preventing that. How to get her down? Was she booby-trapped?

Temari retreated back to them, using blasts from her fan to keep the Gold shinobi, and the reinforcements coming in from adjoining chambers from reaching them, and Sakura thanked _Kami_ for Wind chakra.

A shout of from frustration met her ears and she turned to she the broken-toothed shinobi looking at them with unconcealed fury. She decided Temari should do all the talking as she carefully searched for any signs of a trap on Matsuri, like a wire or explosive tag.

"Try all you want!" Broken Teeth shouted with a shower of angry spittle. "You won't get out of here alive!"

Temari simply snorted, her fan open and at the ready.

"Don't dismiss me!" he raged. "You're nothing but a woman! You aren't your brother!" He wiped the spit dribbling down his chin with back of one hand. "I'll show you your place before I kill you!"

Temari merely shifted her weight slightly, putting it more on one foot as she answered him coolly.

"What was that?" Politely, as if she had merely misheard him.

"I said," his voice roiled with venom as he gestured to the other nin, setting up a plan, "I am going to show your place and then kill you, you worthless female."

The Ambassador was unimpressed. "Who do you think you're talking to?" Her smooth voice was beginning to get dangerous.

Taking a quick look at Broken Tooth, Sakura saw the first flicker of worry.

Temari brandished her fan, shouting. "You ignorant _fool!_" Her killing intent swept over the crowd, her chakra spiking, and the Gold nin cringed and cowered. She pulled herself to her full height. "I'll teach you not to mess with Tessen no Temari!"

* * *

AN: A tessen is an Iron Fan, Temari's weapon. Temari introduced herself as Tessen no Temari for her famous skill with her weapon the same way Gaara is Sabaku no Gaara for his famous weapon of sand.

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	11. Blood and Water

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Journey Through Night

Chapter 11

The low rumble of commotion that was always background noise in the hallways of the Hokage Tower was fading out. The soft thuds of footfalls, the fluttering of paperwork, the rattling of boxes of wooden ink brushes, the scrapping of chair legs against the planks in the floor as people hurried away from their desks to complete errands. The end of the day was twilight of sound in the Tower as much as it was the light in the sky.

Shizune listened to the slowly quieting chatter of the Tower employees leaving the office, heading home for the day. The sky over their heads as they past through doorway was oddly cloudy, a cool grey, letting a colorless light filter gently through the clouds. Shizune sighed minutely as she stood at the window, arms tucked into each other against the coming nights subtle chill, the coolness of the lush, temperate forest in full spring blossom brought up over the high barrier walls and down into the open village streets, born by light breezes.

"Hey, Shizune-san!" A cheerful voice echoed down the emptying hallway.

Kamizuki Izumo came sauntering up next to her at the window, his easy-going smile and posture as friendly as ever. "Kotetsu, Genma, and a bunch of the rest of us are headed out for sake. You want to come?"

His smile faltered and he blinked in mild surprise, noting the slight hesitation and shrug of her shoulders beneath her kimono as she pulled herself out of her thoughts to answer.

"Shizune," his expression shifted to concern, eyebrows lowering over black eyes, "did something happen that I didn't hear about?"

Shizune's eyelids lowered slightly. A person with less control would have closed their eyes in remorse.

"Word reached Tobitake Tonbo that his medical dossier had been pulled by the office of the Hokage," she said, maintaining a professional air. "He demanded to know why the information was of interest, and I felt it was in his rights to hear the explanation as to why, especially since I'm sure he will see the use of the information in his work under Yamanka Inoichi once this whole thing is settled."

Shizune felt herself frown slightly. "He was disappointed after further inquiry." Additional commentary wasn't required, and Izumo would not ask nor repeat the news to others.

Tobitake had naturally asked if the recent research might lead to an improvement in his own condition, but it did not appear the two version of the jutsu that had caused injury and illness were similar enough.

Izumo nodded in understanding. The disappointment the special jounin would have felt at finding out there was no way to improve the continuing pain and infection accompanying his wound would leave him heart-heavy.

"Sad to hear," Izumo said, but continued to look critically at Shizune, "but I think there is more to your mood."

_I'm going to start a rumor if I don't behave normally. Price of working with shinobi all the time now_. Slender arms unwound from each other and hands settled on her hips as she thought it about the last happenings. Black hair fluttered around her collar as she turned from the polished windows to her colleague.

"Tsunade-sama received a report detailing a trail of evidence found that suggests Danzou-sama has been involved in embezzlement activities through various accounts and transactions via his Root Project." She watched the special jounin's expression change to surprise. Danzou rarely made mistakes, with years passing in between the slightest detectable error on his part, right down to the underlings he handpicked to prevent slips in intel. A leak of this significance, even though Shizune had no doubt Danzou would use his cunning to slip out of any accountability, was unprecedented and would likely never happen again.

Izumo looked slightly puzzled, his head cocked to one side towards his Konoha chuunin vest. "Shouldn't that be good news?"

Shizune pressed her lips together. "It's a definite stroke of luck for Tsunade-sama."

Izumo became stoic as the implications of that revelation sunk in. Nobody who worked directly under Tsunade-sama didn't know what it meant when the Fifth Hokage had an extraordinary stroke of luck. It had been hard to believe when Ibiki received the tip from Utatane-sama.

"Man," Izumo thrust his hands in his pants pockets, looking aside thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again, subtly shifting his weight from one-sandled foot to the other. "Anything you want me to do about this?" he asked with deliberate casualness.

Despite their cultivated reputation as a mediocre pair of paperwork ninja, Izumi and Kotetsu were masters of disseminating misinformation for the Hokage and leaving false trails and empty rumors for opposing intelligence forces to chase in vain. Given the nature of shinobi warfare, in their own way, the pair was more dangerous shinobi than even Hatake Kakashi, and Tsunade could definitely use the additional smoke screen against Danzou.

"Yeah," Shizune acknowledged half-heartedly, knowing she didn't need to be specific, her thoughts with Sakura and the team in Suna. Still, wearying herself with anxiety would not enable her to be of aid to anyone. She looked down through the window to the street below. Only a few people were still exiting the building onto the buzzing city streets.

"Let's go on then," she said, standing up straighter. "We don't want to fall behind everyone."

*****O*****

Sakura didn't even bother with a kunai, instead directing a surge of chakra into her ready hands, focusing the wispy tendrils fluttering from her fingertips into a line as insubstantial and perfect in its sharpness as diamond-edged razor wire. She crouched low on the rock, her weight shifted to catch Matsuri as the ghostly chakra scalpel glided through the dirty linen without resistance. The scraps of fabric slithered away from Matsuri with a rough hiss as the genin's body fell away from the ragged post into Sakura waiting arms, the young shinobi's cruor coated skin slapping against itself wetly.

Sakura kept Matsuri as still and straight as possible as she lowered her supine onto the most level patch of broken boulders, mindful to keep Temari and her violent jutsu between them and the enemy. The tessenjutsu mistress' mastery was so perfect hardly a puff of stray wind brushed their skin.

A quick internal scan told her that Matsuri had suffered a concussion and mild trauma to most other parts of the body, but the young genin would not survive the stomach wounds if she regained consciousness anytime soon. Green eyes moved from critically examining one genin to the other.

"Sari," Sakura called, keeping her voice low and commanding, a tone designed for obedience.

The girl has been standing frozen, lip trembling, looking wildly from the mass of blood and organs that was Matsuri to the back of Temari as the jounin single-handedly held back an onslaught of weapons, jutsus, and bodies. Sari's head snapped down towards the crouching Sakura at being addressed, her next breath coming in a sharp gasp of surprise.

"Sari," she began again, professional discipline annihilating any apprehension, her hands working on cutting away the useless, sopping shirt with perfect smoothness. "I need to focus all my attention on Matsuri. I'll be open to attack. I need you to watch my back for me. Can you do that?"

Sari hesitated for a heartbeat, the screeching sound of another wind jutsu reverberating around them. "Yeah, I can." Breathy.

Sakura adjusted her position next to the unconscious Matsuri, discarding her gloves as she kneeled on the rock beside the torso, her hands in ready position to move from the mid-section to the chest. Cool green eyes looked up to regard the jumpy Suna genin one last time. "If I can't do it," she said, "you have to move Matsuri. That is your job." Part of her couldn't help but feel if Tsunade had heard her disciple's rendition of her shishou's "My Decision is Final" tone she would have been impressed.

Ignoring the look of horrified shock on the young soldier's washed-out face, and tuning out the shrieks and screams of wind and shinobi, Sakura closed her eyes, turning all her concentration inward.

The outside world retreated, was empty, void, nothing.

Silence, only her hollow heartbeat, sounding so far away, distant, faint, the barely registered quiet breathing.

Just the flow of chakra, the ebb and flow of life energy coursing in curls around veins and through bones, light, airy, moving into her hands, channeling into the lacework of lines in her palms, curling outward like gliding lines of calligraphy through than tan cloth of the chuunin vest, into the punctured gut, caked, congealing, and seeping blood, the ripped skin and torn muscle and fat hacked apart with poorly sharpened blades.

Butchery.

Neurons fired alongside the flow of her chakra network as she collected, sorted, and evaluated the information being relayed to the storm of cognitive activity in her mind.

The abdominal cavity was surprisingly empty of loose blood. Matsuri's major veins and arteries remained intact, her organs still attached and themselves unruptured. Chakra flowed through the suffering tissue to underneath the starving intestines, tenderly and carefully moving straps of energy around them like a series of lifelines, gently pulling the bruised organs back down through the gashes into their proper place, sensing for the restoration of blood flow as the constricting pressure was released. Threat of infection and fluid loss could wait. One by one, slowly, meticulously, each loop of intestine was pulled back inside the abdomen and realigned, examined for internal hemorrhages and patches of necrophying tissue.

A pause. Sakura returned to herself slightly, her hands still hovering, picturing what she detected against the back of closed eyelids. A patch of the loop of bowel she had just began repairing was dangerously angry and inflamed, having been partially crushed by the haphazard bandaging the Gold nin had thrown on Matsuri before hanging her on the post. A smattering of points in the loop were already dead, turning necrotic and leaking poison as they began to rot with the aid of alien bacteria from the filthy linen scraps. Making a quick decision, Sakura elected to excise portion that couldn't be saved. Returning her focus to her chakra, with the surgical precision, Sakura began to gently push the doomed section of gut back outside through one of the larger gashes to be removed. Once she had all the organs stable, she could used what blood Matsuri could spare to help throw up emergency platelet clots before attempting any suturing she might have a chance at before her team's position atop the rock pile was overrun.

*****O*****

The scents of dozens of unwashed shinobi with poor sanitation habits forced themselves into his nose every time the movements of one their arms or legs disturbed the fine layer of dirt coating the rough hewn rock and sent a puff of dust into the stale air. Kiba forced himself to ignore them as their team snuck up to an artificial tunnel, one carved out by the invading Gold shinobi rather than eternally rushing river water, just barely wide enough for them to fit. Neji had managed to spot the vantage point that would allow them to see into what he had determined to be a large chamber housing the impossibly large chakra signature.

Kiba didn't need Akamaru's instinctive misgivings to tell him this situation was all sorts of wrong. Despite getting so close to what _had_ to be an important place, the enemy shinobi that they had been beating senseless had disappeared. There was no way their squad had shook the guards, meaning they must have been let go on purpose. So was this a trap? Or were there reinforcements from Suna, or even maybe Konoha drawing them off?

Only if _youkai_ were presenting "Icha Icha Paradise on Ice".

Their team was deep in the system of caves. Based on what Matsuri had said, they were moving from the soft soil into the hard, rockier land that was under the wastelands. He could smell flowing open water in the cavern ahead, not the slight smell of seeping rainwater, and the musty odor of a stockpile of fresh herbs.

They needed to regain control of the situation. Not only were they at a disadvantage in almost every way, Kiba was beginning to worry for Neji's eyes. Given, Hinata was the only other Hyuuga he had ever worked with, but he had worked with Hinata _a lot_ and he had never seen her pale Hyuuga peepers get as red as Neji's were now. The irises were fine, but the sclera definitely had the redness of someone suffering from irritation.

He was no expert on doujutsu but he was pretty sure that was a bad thing.

Creeping forward on forearms and knees, they finished their climb to the mouth of the vantage point. Carefully, without any noise, remaining as low to the stone as possible to minimize their silhouettes, they looked over the edge into the dimly lit, wide-open hollow in the earth. With her peripheral vision, Kiba saw the jerking of the muscles in Kankuro's throat beneath the black cloth that gave away the suppressed expletive.

The room was a good size, but Kiba couldn't fully appreciate the amount of solid mountain rock that had been excavated from the natural chamber, as proven by the scrape marks and gouges in the otherwise smooth stone, because of the shock of seeing what was in it. From top to bottom it was one giant, quivering mass of flesh, taut as if ready to burst. Kiba's black eyes flicked across the tortured skin, ready to rip itself apart, seeing no seams, staples, of other points of connection. It was one person, one, filling the space of the cave, one giant body larger than the house he shared with his mom and nee-chan back in Konoha.

He remained stunned even as the force of the blast sent his teaming plummeting the air towards the unyielding cavern floor.

*****O*****

The wind whipped and whirled across the cave, ricocheting off the floor and ceiling, sending tornadoes and tunnels of irresistible force as solid as steel walls cutting, slicing, racing through the air. Ragged chips of stone and curtains of stinging grains of sand blew into the air, blasting forward into the shinobi trying to press forward against the gale, blinding them, threatening to tear their rancid clothing to tatters.

Temari reset her fan, bringing it open to her side, both hands gripping the edges. She shifted her weight against her feet, firm in a solid stance against the stone, and swung her arms wide to drive her fan in arc across her front. Chakra flowed out of her hands into the seals embedded in the paper folds of the Iron Fan, sparking into the transfer points, exploding into the air to force a storm of hurricane winds into the cave.

She focused on forcing the Gold nin back a minimal distance. Their Earth jutsu had a limited range, but it would only take one shinobi breaching her maintained perimeter to execute a ninjutsu capable of creating an earth tremor beneath their feet. A single up-thrust of rock would be enough to dislodge her brother's student from where Sakura was desperately trying to close her gaping gut. Even a bombardment of rock shards as shrapnel might be enough to finish the genin.

Sweat was beading thickly in the fine blonde hairs on the back of her neck, tickling against her skin and drawing her attention to the crackling ache beneath. A seizing soreness clawed at her arms and shoulders, sunk deep into back and neck, tearing at muscle and sinew. Every new surge of chakra she summoned seemed to sputter, flutter haltingly through her chakra network. The reserves were there, but the chakra couldn't move through the network. As if her chakra network was crumbling under the strain of usage.

A grim encrusted Gold nin with a stained, salvaged Sound flak jacket, stumbling, hurled a hand full of shuriken clumsily into the whirlwind. A quick flick of her wrists to fan a blast of wind in his direction, and the spinning blades reversed direction. The stained ninja had just enough time to open his eyes wide in terror as the metal teeth bit into tender flesh, slicing through the fine skin and cartilage, neatly bisecting his jugular. Crimson spray caught the glow of the torches in a glittering spray of delicate droplets, blown up and over his face before body and blood splattered onto the rock.

Temari watched the remaining battalions of Gold shinobi, a stabbing pain forming behind he straining eyes. Nin jumped sporadically from point to point, trying to find an opening in her defense, even as the red color of the blood arcing through the air brought her attention to the unmistakable feeling of liquid dripping steadily out of her nose over sensitive upper lip, seeping into her panting mouth, bringing with it that distinctive coppery taste. She ignored it, shrugging her shoulders against the crackling, seizing tightness forming along her upper back.

She had to hold the position until Sakura could evacuate Matsuri. The rookie genin Sari might be completely green, but she could help move an injured teammate. Temari dedicated part of her senses to tracking the trembling rookie behind her as she redirected a wind blast to knock a leaping Gold nin out of the air, sending him crashing hard into a broken patch of cave floor with a pain filled screech. She would have to trust them to make it back to Suna on their own while she blocked the enemy pursuit.

Behind aching ribs, her heart clenched. She could never face her littlest brother again if she didn't bring Sakura back. She couldn't bare it. Gaara… his pain… he'd suffered so much already. She wasn't doing that to him! _She was not!_

Her fingers dug into the metal frame of her fan desperately. She just had to hold on until Sakura was finished. They just needed a little more time.

That's when Matsuri woke up.

*****O*****

She moaned slightly beneath the twisted hitai-ite around her neck, a gurgling noise deep in her raw throat thick with blood and dried mucous. Her pounding head, throbbing deep inside her skull, jerked weakly, rolling against the stone, hair strands sweeping bloodied trails on the river-smoothed stone. Her body jerked and twitched reflexively, nervous system trying to bring order to sensory chaos.

Her stomach burned and twisted, burning with roaring flames, agony tearing across her skin and muscle, bringing a grimace to her face, forcing the dried blood on her face to crack and flake off. Gasping in agony, she swallowed thickly and raised her throbbing head shakily from the cavern floor to look at her abdomen, squinting through blurry vision.

She blinked. Her gut was torn open. A loop of her intestines was hanging outside of her, cut open, glinting wetly in the flickering light, oozing shiny blood and viscous slime over her skin and running it in streams onto the floor.

The movement of pale skin and dark hair against the tans and grays of the broken boulders caught the attention of the taller genin. Sari felt all her blood seemingly drain from her body only to pull like lead weights in her hands and arms as her knees began to buckle under the weight.

"Sa… Sakura-san," she squeaked weakly, her voice stolen away by her dry throat and mouth, only a thread of dying sound passing through her quaking lips.

Matsuri was returning to coherence. Her face, pale, bruised, blood and dirt smeared, always looking younger than her actual age, was contorting in wracking pain and rising terror. She stared down at herself, a silent shriek of terror plastered in a grotesque parody of an open-mouthed grin on her face, ribbons of blood revealed on her teeth as they were exposed by the involuntary curling of her torn lips.

Sari felt her hands began to tremble, suddenly remembering how comparatively small they were, fingers threatening to drop the kunai she had drawn. "Sakura-san…" She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe! How could she speak if she couldn't breathe? She had to tell Sakura-san about Matsuri waking up!

Matsuri gagged. Strangled noises began erupting from the battered trachea. Black eyes rolled chaotically in their sockets, a striking contrast to the splashes of red on the colorless skin.

"Ahh… ah… ahhh… Hah. Ah-"

Sakura snapped her head to the side; pink hair arcing around her face with the speed. Matsuri was in a blind panic, shock beginning as she tried instinctively to draw herself up to her elbows even as her arms jerked and failed to obey her commands. She was hyperventilating, her voice rising from gasps, building into shrieks of terror.

"Ah. Ah! Ha-ah-"

Her motion, the sharp heaves of her chest, the spiking blood pressures and adrenaline rush threatened to do even more damage. Sakura felt her teeth set on edge. Her hands shot from where she had been working on the dying section of intestine to solidly grip either side of Matsuri's battered head with her palms. She held her head still, preventing the near-hysterical girl from whipping her head around and forced her to look her in the eye, black to green.

"Matsuri! You are not dying!" She declared, throwing all of her force of will behind her words as she stared into her teary eyes. "I'm saving you!"

Sari gasped, the Sakura's iron conviction grounding her as she watched the medic, kneeling in the rough sand and slick blood, holding and directing Matsuri. She pulled in a breath, controlling her breathing as Sakura continued aid the terrified genin.

"Stop moving!" the medic-nin ordered sharply as the wounded wrestled with her panic and the ingrained urge to listen. "I have to put you back under to finish healing you!"

A rough shout from Temari as she swung her fan hard to deflect a series of boulders launched with a jutsu that sent them hurling towards the team with the force of a catapult, almost drowned out Sakura's last words with the sound and the howls of the rocking pulverizing wind.

Matsuri's eyes rolled wildly, turning completely white for a heartbeat.

"No, no…" She moaned, tears leaking to clump dark eyelashes, washing steaks in the dirt and blood caking her face. "I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die!" She pleaded, the words broken up by wrenching, painful sobs. "Don't put me to sleep." She was begging. "I won't wake up!" She cried, the force squeezing more leaking blood out of her torn open gut. "Please! Sakura-san…"

The blossoming ghostly white flow of chakra nearly formed a halo as Sakura sent the energy from her hands into Matsuri's head, by passing the skull seeking the brain. Matsuri's hands, which had been scrabbling weakly, impotently, at the ground for purchase, comfort, _anything_, fell limp. Her whole body relaxed, her breathing slowed and steadied, deep and rhythmic.

Sakura took a moment to rearrange her patient's sprawled limbs, sparing a glance toward Sari who though weaving and tinged green underneath her nauseated expression, was still on her feet. The medic-nin flicked her eyes towards the jounin, checking briefly on Temari's health and stamina.

Her jaw dropped, aghast, as she saw the pallor and coating of sweat on the Suna kunoichi.

"Temari!" she demanded.

"Hurry up! Save her!"

Temari brought her fan around to the side again, readying for another jutsu. Sakura's sharp medic's eyes didn't miss the fine spray of scarlet blood flecking the pale skin of the blonde's forearm as she did so.

*****O*****

Part of his mind was temporarily impressed with the timing of the execution of the Earth jutsu even as Neji twisted in the dusty rain of boulders, rocks and stone chips, using his Byakugan to find the best boulders to ricochet off of to direct his landing. As he fired chakra from his feet through his sandals to jump off a large chunk of tumbling granite, he noted Kiba directing Akamaru to bound on all fours with him from rock to rock. On his other side Kankuro had pulled out a summoning scroll and, with the lighting fast motions of second nature, summoned the noisy puppets he had dismissed. Karasu shot to a clear swath of stone and anchored itself. Kankuro pulled himself to his three-eyed puppet, out of the path of the punishing impact of the boulders.

The cacophony of the crash echoed deafeningly off the featureless cavern walls, making Akamaru visibly cower in pain. Neji ignored the noise reverberating around him as he looked at the body in front of him. The man was unmistakably one of the Gold nin who had the ability to expand his size to generate more chakra, but far beyond anything in the information that Hinata had sent them and, he had no doubt, far beyond anything ever seen.

Wallowing pitifully in a shallow, glimmering creek trickling along the smooth stone floor of the oblong, torch lit cavern was a naked human being so hopelessly bloated he could hardly be recognizable as human. His girth bulged grotesquely, straining, 100 times the size of a normal person. Buried in the pallid flesh stretched so taught it was tearing itself apart, lined with cracks and weeping fluid, held together by sloppily inked seals, were hands and feet and a head with a tube inserted into the layers of lying flesh to create a breathing tube. The chakra network, now the he had an unobstructed view, was showing all the signs of deterioration the victims in Suna did, forcibly bolstered by the seals holding his skin together. The nin's suffering in that condition had to be endless. It took a truly cruel person to do this.

_When this is over, I'm going to be sick._

"Welcome, gentleman."

_Of course_. They had been allowed to approach this… person, and now the enemy believed them helpless, or they would not delay killing or at least subduing the team.

Neji turned to direct his white eyes upwards to peer through the gloom towards the speaker, using his kekkei genkai to keep watch in all directions. Far above their position isolated on the stony cavern floor, hands on his hips, was a Gold jounin on a rock outcropping he must have summoned into existence using a jutsu and, despite his seemingly exposed position, was not doubt well defended by unseen means. The man was on the short side, but was far better dressed and much cleaner than most of the nin they had encountered. His jounin vest was in a perfect state, his pants and shirt were immaculate, and his hitai-ite polished to a shine. His face bore an aristocratic set of features, and he even maintained a fashionable tan. The leader.

"So few of you?" the Gold nin observed mockingly from his rocky perch, dark eyes taking in the single squad. " I see the jutsu has worked as well as what my scouts reported." He cocked his head to one-side. "And you seem to have lost one on the way," he purred.

"Stop the bullcrap," Kankuro barked upwards, fuming, eyes narrowed to slits in his face paint. The ears of his black hood flapping with the force of his vehemence. "It's obvious you want to gloat. So what is it?" he snarled. "You getting some kind of revenge? Think driving your village underground and starving your shinobi proves a point?" Purple painted lips twitched like he wanted to spit.

"Revenge?" the speaker answered blandly. "Don't be so childish." He moved hands his to cross his arms defensively. "War happens, and winners must result in losers. We would have screwed you too if we'd have the chance." He shrugged, and paused dramatically.

"So then what?" Kankuro was not the diplomat in the family for a reason.

"You aren't a very good shinobi if you make everything so personal," the nin drawled, and Neji felt his face tighten in realization as Akamaru growled in response to the change in Kiba's body language, the dog-user's spine stiffening. The Gold nin didn't speak again, stood smirking, clearly waiting for a retort, bidding his time.

Which was fine, because his team desperately need it.

"Money," the expressionless captain supplied evenly. "It's just another mission for you."

"Close!" the leader chirped brightly. The nin seemed happy to have gotten words from him, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.

_Not personal but you want to toy with the Hyuuga, I'm assuming? Inconsistent. _

The cocky Gold nin grinned with a manic delight, "Our generous employer made us an offer to destroy a rival village _completely_. That's not just another mission."

"Because Sunagakure was vulnerable," Neji supplied, testing the waters.

More grinning, the shinobi plopped fists back to his hips to resume posturing "No Kage, the forces decimated, the secret weapon proved nullifiable, reputation ruined, plus a daimyo that doesn't trust his own shinobi?" The nin shifted into a smirk. "Can't ask for better conditions."

"And a traitor to feed you intelligence?" Neji ventured, playing along while scanning the man, analyzing the minute changes in the enemy's posture and expression. The smirk was not genuine, and the histrionic behavior was too precise to be natural. An act.

His first conclusion had been wrong. The nin wasn't inconsistent; his actions were calculated.

"A bonus," the distant man replied easily, quickly raising and lowering his eyebrows as he did so. Feigned self-satisfaction.

"He's been arrested." Neji subtly increased the flow chakra into his eyes, carefully observed every shift in the man's expression, muscle movements around the eyes and mouth, dilations of the iris. No, it wasn't merely a desire to taunt humbled opponents to stroke his own ego that was motivating the nin.

"I know," the man said easily, completely not caring that Gaara was putting the man through a living hell. "But he served his purpose. No loss."

"And your men?" Neji feigned ignorance, added some well-acted indignation. He needed more feedback in the form of body language to determine his target's intent.

"What about them?" the nin challenged with a slight pout pursing his lips. A deliberate gesture. A show of childish behavior.

"You've let them deteriorate into a deplorable condition for one mission, risked them all by putting them in a potential inescapable dungeon." Something was not as it should be. The Gold nin commander wanted them to try to make him angry. Why?

"They're expendable," he huffed, hunching his unusually clean shoulders, as if unhappy at being criticized. "Shinobi die on missions all the time for far pettier things." He growled impatiently, a flawless performance of obnoxious attitude that would have fooled anyone without a Hyuuga's vision.

Kankuro gave a very light snort to tell Neji he knew what he was doing; or at least what he believed the Konoha nin was doing.

The well-groomed Gold nin's jaw twitched, and Kankuro took over the dialogue. "And if many of your men died in the process, that just left more pay off for you." He smirked. "Well, bad news. Even if you kill us here, you won't destroy Suna."

"And why not?" the man challenged petulantly, using a tone that suggested he would stomp his foot in a fit of temper.

Kankuro pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the bloated Gold-nin. "We figured out how that works. He's generating massive amounts of chakra of a single type. You've created a jutsu to weaponize the chakra in its raw form, and you're using a transport seal to put in the water. And it can even move from person to person."

The change was instantaneous. The tauntingly jovial behavior evaporated, a steel mask dropping in place. One without emotion "And your going to tell me you've cured it?" he hissed, his voice coolly neutral.

Neji felt his mood shift as his Byakugan followed the man's tan face, warning prickling up his spine. This man was as uncaring as he first appeared, but he was cunning in his apathy. A genuine sociopath. Malevolent antisocial. The commander was delighting in the suffering he caused and annoyed that he was thwarted.

"We have. This technique will not work again," Neji declared confidently, earning a worried glance from Kiba who couldn't read the enemy nin's face with normal eyes. "Your plan to make the people suffer a lingering death failed. Your spies must have told you this, so what are you really here to brag about?" he finished calmly. No emotion. He gave his opponent nothing to satisfy him.

The Gold nin had been playing with their emotions, trying to fool them into having hope so he could enjoy their despair. His opening statement had been to set their minds in the frame he wanted, suggesting they knew something he didn't, to manipulate them.

He must be clever enough to know they might decipher his game, so where was the ace up his sleeve to ensure he was satisfied? He wouldn't have risked his ego without it. Kankuro picked up Neji's the cue and returned to a professional detachment.

The man's soft smile was authentic, icy cold, and completely without remorse or regret, only savoring. He addressed Kankuro with a disturbing pleasantness. "You're sister came to rescue you and brought the pink-haired medic with her." Kiba couldn't silence his gasp. "They're in another part of the caves where we strung up Matsuri-chan." He said her name with no irony. "The medic is trying to save her, but she won't succeed," he assured them.

His emotionless eyes flicked to the dog-nin, whose emotional control was lower than that of the two jounin. His chest was heaving beneath his leather jacket; his eyes squeezed shut, his fang like teeth biting into his lower lip. Neji observed cautiously. If Kiba didn't control his volatile emotions soon, he was going to have to intervene.

The nin continued with that demented calm. "If you're worried the medic will be killed, don't be-" Kiba took the bait and looked up, "-we're taking her alive," he finished easily. "Be worried because I'm pretty sure it's going to be worse for her where she's going."

Kiba's jaw dropped, horrified, and the man carelessly held up his hand. "It's been fun talking to someone with the courage to be defiant for a change."

He snapped his fingers, and behind them Neji noticed the giant swollen blob of humanity generating the chakra for the jutsu stir slightly in response, feebly moaning in pain.

"Son," he clipped, "kill them." The commander sighed, disinterested, bored now that he saw the team could not be manipulated for his amusement any further.

Neji turned sharply to face the heavy mass of skin. Scanning with his Byakugan, he watched the chakra awkwardly jerking through the bloated network, redirecting from moving towards a seal that mirrored the one in the quicksand to a separate, unknown pattern also hidden beneath the thousands of pounds of flesh.

He saw both Kiba and Kankuro look to his expression, interpreting what he saw via his reaction.

Kankuro regarded what he read with a grim resolve, flexing his black-gloved hands to test the lines of chakra connected to the arsenal buried within his puppet. He'd lived his life with the specter of death hunting him in the form of his own baby brother. Facing death now was merely facing his fate as a shinobi, delivered from execution at the hands of his own blood.

Kiba froze, rooted to the spot, seemingly shocked into an inability to act. He took a breath, huffing sharply, then slowly pulled his chapped lips back to grin wickedly, white fang-like teeth gleaming in the flickering torch light.

"HA!"

Both jounin jerked in surprise as he laughed briefly, an echoing, rough, high-pitched bark befitting a dog-nin of the Inuzuka. He threw himself up to his full-height, throwing his fist to chest height as Akamaru wagged his brushy tail excitedly in answer to his master's mood.

"If you're going to die," he declared, "die AWESOME!" His clawed hands flashed into a tiger seal. "Oh, YEAH!"

*****O*****

A surge of wind blasted through the stale cave air impacting against the boulder and pulverizing it into dust and gravel. A large chunk hurtled towards the feet of a Gold nin, forcing him to jump out of the way or lose both legs from the shin down. Bodies of his comrades littered the ground in front of the rock fall, all in various states of crushed and dismembered, but none of them had been dumb enough to come to close recently.

Temari grit her teeth, grimacing, forcing her hands to not shake as they gripped her fan, drawing on all her grueling years of discipline as kunoichi of Sunakagure. _Sakura hurry up_. Her vision, filled with browns and blurs of the wind-rocked cave, was sparkling, threatening to white out completely. The bones in her skull and face felt like they were trying to crack and implode on themselves. Each surge of chakra felt more and more raw and took more effort to summon and channel. The flow she had maintained to the soles of her sandals to keep her footing of had left her legs almost numb, her seeping chakra lines feeling as though they were turning to ash. She refused to swipe at the blood tickling at her face, chin, and throat.

_You have to get out of here._

"Done!" Sakura tossed the extra length of the cottony bandages she had wrapped around Matsuri's mid-section to hold her together beside her where the roll bounced against the back of Temari's heel.

"Sari, I'll carry her," she declared Temari heard of the roaring in her ears as the combat medic quickly worked her hands back into her gloves. "I want you to go ahead of us while I carry Matsuri."

She directed her voice at the jounin. "When you're ready."

"Go," she answered, wincing, her focus on the Gold nin as they reacted to Sakura's motions. Sakura could use her unique chakra enhanced-strength to run with Matsuri as if the wounded genin weighed nothing. Even though they were escaping an enemy compound with limited entry and exit points, she had no doubt Sakura could get the students out safely.

Especially if she killed them all right now. It was going to wreck her chakra network, she knew that, but she had to die sometime, and doing it protecting Sakura, Matsuri, and Sari was a great way to go in her book. She just didn't know when Gaara and Kankuro would forgive her.

She hoped middle brother lived, wherever he was. An unnamed instinct said he was still alive somewhere. That was good to know. He could stay with Gaara and Sakura. And they had Naruto who knew Sakura so well, and the Fifth Hokage's support.

She'd just go ahead of them to meet her mom.

Sakura didn't budge, eyebrows drawn together in determination over bright green eyes ready to throw sparks. "You're coming." A flat statement, daring her to argue.

_Too bad_. "Go ahead," she repeated with force, her jaw clenched against the pain, calculating the best way to wipe out the enemy.

"Temari!" A demand.

"I can't follow! Go!" The distraction and strain of arguing caused a break in her chakra flow as she cast her next jutsu. She faltered slightly, pitching her weight forward to compensate and finish the jutsu with enough force, vertigo and violent headache undermining her balance.

She heard Sakura gasp as she drew the right conclusion. "Sari!" she called out. "You have to take Matsuri from me-"

"No!" She could not let Sakura stay! "I'm the taichou here! This is my home! You get them out of here! Go back to Gaara!"

*****O*****

Shock. That was this emotion. If she had still been an undisciplined genin, she might have dropped Matsuri's comatose body.

She watched Temari, dripping blood and sweat, heave her torso forward painfully and blast another boulder out of the air, gasping raggedly afterward.

Temari's chakra network was collapsing. The tessenjutsu mistress had had nowhere near enough time to recuperate. She was going to lose limbs, organs, die. And she was dying for them. Not just because they were her team, but also because she was Sakura, because she was her brother's girl. She was already family.

_Go back to Gaara!_

Her hands balled into fists inside her gloves, fury and determination driving out patience. Like she was letting anyone die here! Was she the Godaime Hokage's apprentice or not? And let the freaking _Ambassador_ die on her watch?

_Who does she think she's dealing with?_

"Oh, no," she said, adjusting her battle stance as she passed over one genin to the other, before directing all the killing intent she could muster at the opposition. And there was a lot of that at the moment. "_You_ get them out of here!"

Sari's voice was tiny. "Sakura-san?" she dared.

"What do you think you're doing?" Temari demanded brusquely, strings of dark red blood oozing from her nose, looking askance at the medic as she strode confidently to stand beside her.

"They want me for some reason, right?" she said, cracking her knuckles in preparation and sizing up the ragged state of their perplexed enemy as they tried and failed to determine what was happening between the kunoichi. Green eyes narrowed. "Let'em catch me."

"No!" The jounin turned to shout at her, horrified, but all she saw was the white hoop on red as the pink-haired kunoichi sprinted over shattered rock and spatters of bloodied dirt, hurdling riffs and gullies, watching the Gold nin to make sure she had their attention.

"Take them and go! I can catch up!"

Her mind flipped rapidly through her mental compendium of applicable facts, forming a plan and contingencies. She had depleted a good amount of her chakra reserves healing Matsuri so fast, especially with injuries so severe. She was feeling fatigued, but she had more than enough to play tag with a bunch of cut-rate, malnourished shinobi. She just had to force Temari to go. The former sensei wouldn't desert the genin, no matter how badly she wanted to grab and throttle Sakura.

A quick series of vaults and jumps brought her to the tail end of the gigantic chunks of ceiling that had crashed to the floor, creating distance while maintaining a height advantage. From her peripheral vision she saw Sari carefully backing towards the tunnel they had come down with Matsuri held carefully to her torso. She was yelling to Temari, but her words were drowned out by the roar of the raging wind Temari was using to block the enemy's pursuit.

An easy cartwheel spun her out of the way of the first series of incoming kunai. Sakura allowed her momentum to bring her down into a crouch on the jagged rocks and shattered stone, one booted foot out to her side to provide balance. She wanted to stay close enough to Temari and the two genin to rescue them if necessary. She had to be cautious of where she moved.

Her eyes widened a she caught the telltale flapping at the end of the handles of next round of flying kunai. The muscles in her legs and torso bunched and fired as she bent her knees to the maximum before launching herself into a back flip. Sandals struck solid ground, and she righted herself despite the disorientation from the impacting sound and force of the detonating explosive tags, the boom made even louder by the acoustics of the water-polished surfaces of the cave. She resisted the urge to protectively cover her ears, keeping her fists up in defense.

They were desperate or just insane to risk a cave in.

Years of taijutsu practice triggered an automatic guard as she blocked the kick coming for her temple. Her forearms took the impact as she jumped back to make space between herself and her assailant, still fighting lingering vertigo. Another strike. This one from a clearly over-confident opponent. She twisted out of the way of the upper cut to her solar plexus and into her assailant, responding with a vertical strike of her own, straight up from the shoulder, reinforced by her speed and chakra enhanced strength. Jawbone, teeth, and cheekbones were reduced to shards scattered through the air and ruined flesh. The nin who'd been moving in to catch her from the back as she collapsed had just enough seconds to realize his mistake before a left cross from the kunoichi destroyed what had been the right side of his face, blood and teeth flying.

A quick judo throw from her launched the next Gold nin into the empty air behind her, and the one behind him missed with both slashes with his kunai before she simply ducked and drove one foot into his knee, breaking, crushing, dislocating, and tearing before her jumping knee buried itself deep into his grease and grim of his collapsing face.

Bringing her hands back up she whipped her head around to the thrown opponent, only to see he had returned to the main group of enemy shinobi, who were sneering as they hesitated. Calm eyes analyzed their sagging skin and rotting teeth, listened to the rattling breath signaling respiratory illness, until they crowd began to shuffle. The dirt and grim caked line of shoddily geared shinobi at the front parted, and the broken toothed nin stomped to the fore.

He spat, swearing at her. "If your s'good," he growled, his hands flashing through a series of seals, "dodge this one."

Ninja on either side of him threw shuriken, forcing her to dodge before she knew what type of jutsu was coming. The edge of a mud wall slammed into her heels, jarring her legs, as she barely managed to bring them under her in time. She vaulted off the rising earth a second before she saw more of the extra loud tags.

The explosion was blinding, and only kinesthetic awareness and a good visual memory let her land upright on the shattered rocks, sandals slipping slightly on the loose detritus. Temporarily deaf and half blind, she peered through squinting eyes in time to see the mud projectiles being launched from the mud wall. A small jump back was followed by a series of handsprings as the projectiles fired in rapid barrages, slamming into the stone in showers of exploded rock.

She gasped, awestruck at the sheer force.

An overwhelming presence, oppressive, suffocating, subsumed her senses, spiking ruthlessly, painfully into her mind, digging into her lungs, trying to empty them of breath, threatening to knock her out of the air. Rattled, she looked through streaming eyes to her landing spot, tried to redirect chakra to her palms to stick to the awkwardly angled rock.

*****O*****

The air around him was cool, calm, the last heat of the day had been released from the sands beneath him and been replaced with the cool air of the night descending from the distant mountains. Small eddies of breeze danced over cool puddles of waters reflecting glinting starlight, carrying the scent of the moisture and the songs of the nocturnal insects hiding among the rough foliage of the desert flora.

Gaara moved over the desert landscape like a wraith; silently, fluidly, the platform of sand he summoned hovering effortlessly in the air. His robes fluttered lightly around him as he stood, head bowed, eyes closed, tuning his senses into his chakra. It flowed out of him, pouring in rivers, cascading invisibly from him in irresistible waves into the sands, surrounding every grain, flooding the dunes and diving far beneath the quiet top layer into the caves below.

He had elected to approach discretely, not wanting to alert the enemy, perhaps frightening them into harming any prisoners they might have taken before he had a chance to defend them. His charka, in contact with the sands, would relay to him all the information he required even as it extended his control over the entire area.

Animal trails, bone shards, blood…

Gallons of congealed human blood, a recent battle, the bodies drug away from the point of termination. Curls of sand, hissing, twisting, began to rise up around him, a tainted chakra dancing delightedly among the grains. The Kazekage sealed the barriers of his mind with a vengeance, aware of the Shukaku's mocking laughter scrapping at the inside of his mind.

Ignoring his prisoner's antics, Gaara instead focused on locating every hollow chamber beneath the dunes, every chakra signature, every opening that could serve as an entry and exit point to the compound. His chakra crept though the sands, claiming every speck, circling the entire area. He directed a wave over the stone floors of the cavern, using the scattered loose grains as connections points.

Matsuri. Temari. Their chakra. Their blood.

His muscles tensed as two chakras exploded into the black night, sending up a sandstorm of raging energy across the sands and blasting upwards into the sky, the shock wave shaking the very ground. The explosive cloud blew outward violently, then imploded, miniature lightening sparks erupting as the sands collided. The roaring column barreled into the nearest entry point, tearing the earth wide-open as the ground groaned and heaved with the force. Geysers of rock and dirt burst upwards towards the cold, distant stars.

An impenetrable wall of sand shot to form between familiar and alien chakra signatures. Distantly, he sensed more familiar chakra: his brother, clustered with two other humans and a dog. A protective shell automatically hardened over them. In the same chamber there were seals, which were instantly scoured out of existence.

His encompassing column of raging sand parted at Gaara's command, viscous chakra arcing across the gap, letting the Kazekage look out into the carnage in the cave. In a second, he saw the genin Sari, her face pale with strain and mouth gaping in shock as she stared at him, holding on to a bandaged, unconscious Matsuri. Beyond her was Temari, gleaming scarlet blood from her mouth and nose and sweat were streaming off her face, running down her neck and soaking the neckline of her kimono, as she turned at the waist to regard him, clinging to her Iron Fan to remain on her feet.

"Kazekage-sama?" Sari said, surprised at his sudden appearance.

A blur of pink and red drew his eyes to the far end of the cave. A shinobi was using an Earth jutsu to bombard Sakura as she twisted through the air to avoid the rock shattering projectiles.

The tail end of the jutsu caught Sakura as she finished her last handspring; knocking her from the rock she had aimed for as her grip was forced loose. She twisted in the air; automatically attempting to right herself, to bring her feet beneath her, as the force sent her crashing to the cave floor. The uncontrolled fall terminated in a painful impact onto the broken and jagged rocks of the floor below.

Gaara watched her crash with pure jade eyes, hard and cold. Rough sand curled in whispering tendrils, softly asking to seek opponents with razor sharp susurrations.

It was rare occurrence these days when he and the Shukaku both wanted blood. He shouldn't waste the opportunity.

Torrents of roiling sand erupted out of the tunnel behind him, parting into the waves and racing around the wall he had summoned to protect the kunoichi. The foreign shinobi shouted in alarm and terror as a thunderous, turbulent sea of rushing, churning sand, thick with malevolent chakra, rushed over them, burying them, sending tendrils up in violent spurts to whip back bodies that tried to jump away. A branch of the coarse grains and sharp shards of natural glass darted off the main gyre, moving faster than a blink, slamming and slicing into the shinobi attacking Sakura. Gaara turned and watched, face dispassionate, as the sand, empowered by raging chakra, relentlessly snapped around ankles, waists, and necks, dragging the Gold nin into the vortex of undulating sand pressing into the bodies, faces, mouths, and lungs of his targets. The screams and wails disappeared as the last of the nin were buried in the hissing, ragged, ball of sand and bodies, suspended in the suddenly still cavern air like a small moon. Gaara flicked his eyes back to the trapped nin and, with a thought, without a scruple, contracted the grains. The sphere of sand halved in size, the motion stilling as the grit and dust compacted as tightly as possible, forcing out all air, all liquids.

Gaara removed his hold on the ball, and it fell to the cavern floor, vital fluids reddening every grain and speck, pooling out on to the empty stone.

Threat addressed, he ignored the Shukaku's elation, the way it scrabbled and scrapped at the barriers of his mind, battering relentless in the frenzy of blood, pushed back its venomous chakra and his own killing intent, and walked toward Sari and Matsuri. Sari's hazel eyes moved around in marvel at the resounding sudden silence, gasping quietly, the execution of the enemy having been blocked from her sight by the sand wall still standing.

He quickly evaluated the physical condition of his student. A mix of caked blood and dirt clung to her face and limbs and shin guards, but her abdomen and torso where relatively clean and tightly wrapped in clean bandages. Sakura had treated Matsuri. He addressed the standing genin.

"Are you alright?" he rasped gently, ruthlessly forcing back the whirling miasma of his tailed-beast as it giddily scrapped and clawed at the barriers of his mind, jibbering enjoyment.

Sari, hazel eyes wide and lips in a tense line, nodded earnestly, and he turned his focus down to where she was keeping a tight grip on the other genin.

"Matsuri-kun?" he asked, his rough voice soft.

"Sakura-san knows," she answered with a slight pant, jerking her head with a swish of her long hair towards where Sakura had moved.

He took a moment to double check Matsuri, gingerly held by the other genin, confirming her breathing and pulse were both stable before walking towards his sister.

Temari was shaking visibly, the ends of her black kimono trembling with the transferred motion, from simply standing even with the aid of her Battle Fan as a crutch. She breathed harshly through a wide-open mouth; blue eyes, dulled, firmly on her brother.

"I'm fine." It might have been convincing if the words didn't come out as dry croak.

"You are not." Raccoon eyes glared sharply, his voice unusually dry. "You will do whatever Sakura and Tetsubin-sensei tell you to, or I will order you strapped down."

She scoffed as she finally let her eyes close. He took that as acquiescence.

"Gaara," she said weakly, lids lifting partially to look at him again, blue meeting jade, "they were after Sakura. I don't know why."

He used his sand to rush himself to where Sakura was still brushing herself off as she stared at the slowly blackening pile of red sand.

The Kazekage appeared before the medic eye-to-eye with a slight swirl of sand, causing her to start slightly, freezing with her gloved hands on the rock she had used to push herself up.

"Are you okay?" He could see only scrapes, but he waited for confirmation.

"Yeah," she confirmed, blinking rapidly, looking from him to the rest of the cave.

"Matsuri?" he asked.

"She'll survive but we need to get her back to Suna," she said rapidly, looking down and shifting her weight more fully on her hands to hop onto the broken rock, already intent on getting back to the other kunoichi. "We need to go now." She turned to look sideways at him. "Did you find the rest of their team?"

"I'll go get them," he rasped, before turning towards their chakra as she leapt away.

He was aware that in romantic stories, this was where he would make a romantic gesture; but he had people to kill.

Summoning a swirl of sand as a transport, he raced directly through the maze of tunnels to the location of his brother's chakra signature. His sand swirled open with a hiss as he regarded a smaller cave, one made by man rather than water. He had locked down the room with sand when he detected the seals and now quickly redirected the grains that blocked the door to encase the trapped enemy shinobi. He looked askance at what appeared to be a gigantic, bloated Gold nin, gleaming with sweat reflecting the light of the torches in the room.

Not moving his eyes and ignoring the shouts of his captured prey, Gaara removed the barrier he had put over his brother and the Konoha nin.

A collection of black and white eyes blinked and squinted as the group readjusted to the light after the darkness of the shield. Kankuro gave him a knowing grin over his trio of clattering puppets. He greeted him cheerfully.

"Hey there, Gaara. Glad you could make it."

"Is that what I think it is?" the Kazekage asked mildly, still looking at the huge mass of suffering shinobi. The nin was definitely suffering. Shukaku loved watching suffering.

Kankuro sobered up. "That's him." He looked grimly at his brother, shoulders tense. "Neji says he's dead anyway."

"His chakra network is failing," the Hyuuga elaborated, using a detached professional tone, while the dog-nin glared with bared teeth at one particular Gold shinobi suspended in the air by sand slithering. Neji finished his explanation. "All else aside it's too far gone to repair. I'm certain."

The red-head looked to his brother, wondering why he would sound angry on behalf on the nin that had been the source of so much suffering, wordlessly asking his question.

Kankuro turned to point accusingly at the same ninja Kiba had been glaring at. "That's the leader." The puppet master watched as the sand encasing the shinobi yanked him out of the air, bringing him down to ground level. "We need to have a talk with him."

"I will," Gaara declared, his icy gaze on the leader. The remaining Gold shinobi beginning to whimper as the sand holding them began to tighten, constricted, the Shukaku's malice-ridden chakra seeping through directly, his prisoner having given up with infecting his mind for the time being. "I want all of you to meet up with Temari and her team and return to Suna." As he gave his orders, sand not acting as restraints beginning piling itself into two columns next to him, swirling, rising, then sculpting itself into Sand Clones of the Kage. "Leave immediately."

Kankuro scowled, but knew arguing when Gaara was in _that_ mood, especially with the Shukaku threatening, was a losing venture. He motioned for the Konoha nin to follow as the Sand Clones began racing back through the tunnels. Neji pursed dutifully, and, after hesitating as though wanting to ask something, Kiba and Akamaru gave chase.

The Kazekage didn't wait before simply crushing the remaining nin, blood spurting in jets through the sand, before dropping the ruined corpses to splatter wetly on the cave floor. He redirected the sand to surround and transport the humongous bulk of the shinobi used to generate the illness away from the water before forming a small handful of sand into an impromptu senbon. The motion caused the chakra engorged man to moan painfully, making a sound for the first time. Gaara hesitated, understanding, then launched the senbon. The moaning, and, the sand relayed, the chakra, ceased.

The Kage directed his full attention to his final captive, who to his surprise, sneered, then swore viciously.

"You aren't getting what you want from me, _Kage_." He said the designation like an insult. "No matter your title you aren't better than _me_."

The Kage raised an eyebrow. He had kept his killing intent within himself to not further distress his Konoha allies upon his approach. This shinobi seemed to believe the absence indicated he wasn't capable of extreme violence.

"Wrong," Gaara said simply, using the entrapping sand to rotate the Gold nin commander in mid air, hanging him upside down. He calmly watched the man's expression, noting a flicker of worry deep in his eyes. "You're going tell me everything I wish to know."

Without moving from where he stood, the Kazekage directed the tendrils of sand to take hold of the man's ankles and keep him upside down. Doing so would use gravity to force all the man's blood into his head, ensuring he could not pass out from pain, and increasing the amount of blood he could lose and shock he could endure before death. Grains of sand began trickling under the nin's clothes, searching out where to find clusters of nerves to press and crush.

The Kage tilted his head making sure his prey was looking at him, seeing his black-ringed eyes, the building balefulness present there, before he unleashed his killing intent.

The man's face immediately contorted. Horror; wide-eyed, lower part of his face split in a silent scream, heartbeat spiking wildly as he struggled for a strangled breath with paralyzed lungs.

Cool jade eyes watched calmly. This should work. If not, the Kage was more than fine with releasing his grip on the Ichibi's chakra and letting his prisoner have this one.

"Now, who hired you?"

"AAHH!"

* * *

AN: Finally! Man, has it been a while. Life happens.

One more chapter to go.

Review if you like it!


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